Investment in the German CRO, specialized in the preclinical assessment of new anticancer drugs, strengthens Citoxlab’s pharmacology portfolio, which will benefit from many synergies with preclinical safety and biomarkers services already provided by Citoxlab.
Evreux, France and Berlin, Germany, September 3, 2018 – Citoxlab, a leading CRO for non-clinical research, today announces an investment and partnership deal with Experimental Pharmacology and Oncology Berlin-Buch GmbH (EPO), a well-recognized CRO providing comprehensive services for preclinical oncology research worldwide.
Founded in 1997, EPO is an AAALAC accredited organization. It provides in vitro and in vivotesting of drug candidates with antitumoral and/or immunostimulatory activities in the oncology field. With state-of-the art facilities of 1,300m2 (12,000ft2) at the Campus Berlin-Buch, EPO offers, in particular, a comprehensive range of well characterized syngeneic tumor models, Patient Derived Xenograft (PDX) models and humanized tumor models. More than one hundred large pharma and biotech companies from Europe, Asia and North America have already used EPO’s services.
Dr. Jean-François Le Bigot, president and CEO of Citoxlab Group said: “We are particularly happy that EPO’s management agreed to our investment proposal. Its scientific reputation and the reliability of its studies are widely recognized in the oncology community. More than 40% of the new drugs under development target cancer. Offering an integrated services portfolio which includes pharmacology alongside drug safety, pharmacokinetics and bioanalysis/biomarkers will allow Citoxlab-EPO’s clients to save time and money and avoid the risks linked to moving from one CRO to another. Several key clients have already told us that this integrated-services offering perfectly meets their needs. For biotechnology companies, financial milestones are often linked to reaching specific development steps, so integrated operations optimizing time spent can be a strategic advantage.”
Dr. Jens Hoffman, CEO of EPO said: “As the founders and main shareholders, Dr. Iduna Fichner, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Walther, CSO, and myself have carefully analyzed Citoxlab’s interest in our company, with our long-term development in mind. As one of the top five non-clinical CROs worldwide, Citoxlab has established long-lasting business relationships with hundreds of customers. In addition, as a science driven CRO, Citoxlab has developed specialties in disciplines such as immunohistochemistry, cell cytometry and genomics, which are key in our area of research. We believe that these scientific synergies, combined with Citoxlab’s strong business development dynamics, will benefit both us and our clients. I must add that the respect for the culture and management in their previous acquisitions shown by Citoxlab was important in choosing this strategic partnership, where Citoxlab will own 49% of EPO.”
