Quotient Clinical has joined other providers of outsourced development services, such as PPD, PRA International, ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services and Theorem Clinical Research, in staking its future on private-equity ownership.
Its owner, Quotient Bioresearch, has sold Quotient Clinical to Bridgepoint Development Capital for an undisclosed amount. Mark Egerton remains chief executive officer of the acquired business.
Quotient Bioresearch is a drug-development services specialist based in Fordham, Cambridgeshire, while Quotient Clinical (based in Nottingham) provides early-stage development solutions to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients worldwide.
Early this year, Quotient Bioresearch announced the sale of its Bioanalytical Sciences division to fellow UK company LGC, just a few months after completing a £1.5 million expansion programme at its bioanalytical services base in Fordham.
Global base
Quotient Clinical’s global customer base ranges from top-tier pharmaceutical companies to small and medium-sized biotechs. More than three quarters of the business’s revenues come from customers based in the USA or mainland Europe.
Its main site in Nottingham includes a certified 85-bed clinical pharmacology unit with an integrated drug manufacturing facility.
The business, which employs more than 200 staff overall, also runs a biometrics facility in Edinburgh, responsible for analysing and reporting clinical-trial data.
Translational Pharmaceutics
Quotient Clinical’s Translational Pharmaceutics platform offers an integrated approach to formulation development, real-time product manufacturing and clinical testing.
According to Bridgepoint, the addressable market derived from the Translational Pharmaceutics platform, which has been shown significantly to reduce the time and cost of early-stage drug development, is conservatively estimated at more than US$400 million a year.
The outsourced drug-development market overall is currently valued at US$30 billion and forecast to grow at up to 6% per annum, Brigepoint noted.
This market is “characterised by a focus on speed to market to maximise value from a drug's period under patent”, it added.
Next phase
Working with Bridgepoint Development Capital will “now provide the support to catalyse the next phase of our growth and evolution”, Egerton commented.
“Their experience in helping portfolio companies to scale will be invaluable as we endeavour to grow our business and maintain the high levels of customer satisfaction that we currently enjoy.”
Alan Payne, partner at Bridgepoint Development Capital, said Quotient Clinical served a “substantial and growing market”, while there was “significant opportunity to increase market penetration thanks to its combination of unique service offering, strong regulatory governance and a talented management team”.
