Citoxlab Acquires American CRO Xenometrics

Citoxlab Group recently announced the acquisition of Xenometrics, an American CRO specialized in the non-clinical assessment of new drug candidates. This acquisition is the third one made by Citoxlab in North America further to the acquisition of the LAB Research Group (2011) and Accellab (2016). The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Xenometrics is a non-clinical CRO offering comprehensive services in the fields of safety, pharmacology and pharmacokinetics to customers from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industries. With a staff of around 100 people, Xenometrics has built a robust scientific reputation since its creation almost 20 years ago. It is widely recognized as a flexible organization, which is key for an R&D service provider.

Through this acquisition, Citoxlab Group reinforces its position in the non-clinical CRO arena, with consolidated revenues of $148 million (€128M) and a staff of 1,200, spread over seven sites in France (Evreux and Saint-Nazaire), Canada (Laval and Boisbriand), Hungary (Veszprem), Denmark (Copenhagen), and now in the USA (Kansas City).

Dr. Jean-Francois Le Bigot, Chairman and CEO of Citoxlab Group said: “We were actively looking for an investment opportunity in the US as part of our growth strategy. This is important to better serve our US clients and I am very happy that we have identified the right opportunity with Xenometrics and successfully closed this acquisition. This CRO, created as a spin-off from a large pharma company, has tremendous non-clinical expertise and a strong reputation as a flexible organization capable of meeting the customers’ needs in project management during early development. This is really key, in particular for biotech companies that fight against time in order to reach milestones in their time-sensitive development plans. Two other criteria were also critical in our decision: – the staff is exceptionally stable, which results in experienced people who not only know their job, but also the specific requests or habits of their clients, – the location in Kansas City which is easy to reach for most American customers. For all these reasons, I am very confident and very excited that this acquisition will allow us to provide more services and additional capacity to our client portfolio with an increase in study slots.”

Dr. Alfred Botchway, PhD, DSP, one of the founders and the CEO of Xenometrics, said “We are very proud that a leader like Citoxlab decided to invest in our company. We have been well aware of their excellent reputation as a science-driven CRO. In addition to this, I also realized that they have an impressive long-term development strategy, which is rare nowadays. We are very confident that joining the Citoxlab Group is a true opportunity for the future development of Xenometrics and its staff. We have already defined together several very concrete short and long term investments goals to improve and broaden our capabilities and services in Kansas City.”

With seven facilities located in France (Evreux and Saint-Nazaire), Canada (Laval and Boisbriand), Denmark (Copenhagen), Hungary (Veszprem) and the US (Kansas City), Citoxlab Group offers a comprehensive range of non-clinical services to meet the needs of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, chemical and agrochemical companies worldwide. Citoxlab carries out studies in general and reproductive toxicology, carcinogenicity, immunology, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and bioanalysis/biomarkers. Citoxlab and Atlanbio (Saint Nazaire) offer both preclinical and clinical bioanalysis and biomarkers services. With Accellab (Boisbriand) in the group, Citoxlab offers efficacy and safety studies for medical devices (cardiology, ENT, orthopaedics, and regenerative medicine). A partnership with Stemina (Madison, USA) allows the Group to offer screening services using human embryonic stem cell models. Today, Citoxlab has more than 1,200 employees working at seven sites representing 760,000 sq ft (71,000 m²) of state-of-the-art facilities. The company has a world-class, top-level management team in scientific, financial and business activities. For more information, visit www.citoxlab.com or contact@citoxlab.com.

Xenometrics LLC, is a US-based GLP-compliant, USDA-registered, AAALAC accredited non-clinical contract laboratory that provides non-clinical research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, veterinary and agro-chemical industry. Xenometrics performs studies in the field of toxicology, safety pharmacology and pharmacokinetics. Xenometrics has a staff of approximately 100 people, and is located on a Bioscience Research Park located just south of downtown Kansas City. For more information, visit www.xenometricsllc.com.