(Yicai Global) May 20 -- Joinn Laboratories China will acquire the clinic trial contract business of Biomere, formerly known as Biomedical Research Models, for USD27.3 million to form synergies with its existing business and expand the influence of its Joinn brand in the US, the Chinese provider of clinical trial services to pharmaceutical giants said in a statement.

Beijing-based Joinn will set up a special purpose vehicle in the US to complete the cash acquisition, according to the equity purchase agreement it inked with Biomere's shareholders, the statement said, adding the acquisition will occur after the target divests its loss-making vaccine business. 

Worcester, Massachusetts-based Biomere is one of the top three preclinical clinical research organizations in the US' northeastern New England region and one of the few CROs there that qualify to conduct primate trials, per the statement. Its major customers are large pharmaceutical companies and include the US Shire and Abbott Laboratories, as well as Switzerland's Novartis International.

A clinical research organization supplies such services as the design of and consultations on new drug clinical trials and case report forms, trial monitoring, data management, statistical analysis and reports.

The US' Boston area is one of the most dynamic bio-industry clusters in the world, with many well-known biopharma companies in the region, and is thus an ideal place for CROs, per the statement.

The acquisition still must be filed with and approved by multiple Chinese regulators, as well as by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and other authorities, the statement added.

Editor: Ben Armour