Drug-development services specialist Quotient Bioresearch has 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, Cambridgeshire.
Financial details of the agreement, which will see the Bioanalytical Sciences division incorporated into LGC’s Health Sciences division, were not disclosed.
Quotient and LGC have committed to collaborating as preferred partners in the provision of bioanalytical services, while the Bioanalytical Sciences business will still trade under the Quotient name for the time being.
Continued benefit
This arrangement will enable clients to continue benefiting from the early-development services offered by the Quotient group, including clinical trials, metabolism and radiolabelling, the two partners noted.
For its part, LGC – an international market leader in laboratory services, measurement standards, reference materials and proficiency testing with headquarters in Teddington, south west London – can now offer provide a broader range of products and services to the pharmaceutical sector, including bioanalysis, materials science and reference materials, they said.
The transaction follows Quotient’s sale to LGC two years ago of HFL Sport Science, which is also based at the Fordham site.
Natural home
Jeremy Cook, managing director of LGC’s Health Sciences division, said Quotient Bioanalytical Sciences was a high-quality business that complemented the division’s existing activities.
“We continue to develop our range of first-rate services in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrochemical sectors by offering our customers a unique mix of technical experience, leading-edge facilities and knowledgeable people,” Cook commented.
According to Dr Steve Pleasance, managing director of Quotient Bioanalytical Sciences, LGC’s focus on complex analytical chemistry, high-quality science and service delivery “make them a natural home for our business”.
At the same time, LGC’s global presence “will help support the continued growth of services to our customers”, he added.
Expansion programme
Quotient’s expansion programme at its Fordham site included a new bioanalytical facility as well as laboratories for immunoassay and cell-based work with biopharmaceuticals and biomarkers.
Last October, Pleasance said the Fordham laboratories now constituted “one of the world’s most extensive bioanalytical facilities”, with services spanning biomarkers, small molecules, biopharmaceuticals and antimicrobials.
