North American CRO, InterVivo Solutions, and UK/ Europe-based, Transpharmation, have come together as sister companies with a joint management team, following years of collaboration and joint ventures between the two.
Together, Transpharmation and InterVivo Solutions form the largest boutique Neuroscience-specialised small and large animal CRO, with 120 staff, a delivery footprint extending across North America, UK and Europe, consulting capability across Japan and Asia, and elevated capacity and opportunities for increased collaboration.
The merger will provide clients of each company with the strength of the other, opening new avenues for pre-clinical neuroscience projects with complementary assays, techniques and methodologies.
InterVivo Solutions CEO Joseph Araujo said: “The two leadership and delivery teams, now together as one, are a great fit. InterVivo started a joint venture with Transpharmation in 2017. We have operated collaboratively and extremely effectively as a boutique neuroscience company since then, with capabilities in PK, small molecule bio analysis and models across most CNS areas.”
Transpharmation CEO, Dr Mark Duxon, said: “We have had five years of joint working to really get to know each other, and this was the next natural step for our companies. This represents a significant growth strategy for us and for InterVivo Solutions. We will have a greater breadth of scientific resources available for drug developers and clients and a greater footprint across Europe, North America and Asia. We have brought together two really well established teams who are also leaders in their area.”
InterVivo Solutions and Transpharmation will strengthen their work on human neurodegenerative, pain and neuropsychiatric disorders, and continue to develop emerging research in novel pharmaceuticals and psychedelics for improving human health. In addition, the teams have world-leading technology platforms that include bioanalysis, EEG biomarker analysis, operant behaviour, imaging and automated assessment of spontaneous behaviour.
The merger has resulted in a combination of executive teams, with Transpharmation CEO, Dr. Mark Duxon, heading up the joint companies and InterVivo Solutions CSO, Dr. Guy Higgins, providing scientific leadership. Transpharmation CSO, Dr. Neil Upton, will move to a Scientific Advisory role across the group and Joseph Araujo, CEO of InterVivo Solutions, will move into a corporate development role and will continue to provide scientific leadership in expanding canine-based models.
All the laboratory and support teams across the companies’ laboratories, including Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, will remain focussed on client work in their current labs but with greater ability for cross-company collaboration and expanded research capability in line with a combined growth strategy.
The move comes just a year after Transpharmation announced it was the very first company to co-locate alongside University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland - and nine months after it expanded into new premises at Discovery Park in Kent, UK. Both InterVivo Solutions and Transpharmation have announced significant partnerships in the psychedelic space and remain at the forefront of this neuropsychiatric research.