Nexelis, a portfolio company of Ampersand Capital Partners, and a leading provider of advanced assay development and laboratory testing services in the infectious, oncologic, and metabolic diseases fields, has signed an asset purchase agreement with GSK to acquire its GCLP-certified clinical bioanalytical laboratory located in Marburg, Germany.
The Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) team in Marburg, consisting of approximately 80 scientists and analysts, will be transferred to Nexelis. The CLS team in Marburg will continue to keep a strong relationship with GSK and support the development of future GSK vaccine candidates through a 5-year strategic collaborative agreement.
This is the fifth acquisition by Nexelis in the last three years after Pacific Biomarkers, PAIRimmune, ImmunXperts, Gosselies and AIT Bioscience. The transaction with GSK enables Nexelis to expand its global footprint as well as its immunology-centric assay development and high-throughput clinical testing capacities.
Benoit Bouche, Nexelis CEO commented: “We are thrilled to welcome on board new colleagues with a legacy of over 20 years under Novartis and GSK leadership in clinical laboratory activities supporting the development of vaccines against viral and bacterial diseases. We believe that this transaction is a determining step in the establishment of Nexelis as an unrivalled global vaccine player.”
Emmanuel Hanon, Head of GSK Vaccines R&D added: “Strategic outsourcing will optimise GSK’s footprint and increase our agility so that we can continue to accelerate the development of the candidate vaccines in our pipeline. Based on the previous successful transfer of other laboratory activities to Nexelis, we are confident that this will be a great fit due to the quality and agility of the Nexelis organisation.”
Image credit: Markus Spike
