Key Highlights:
- UK-based drug discovery organisation, Concept Life Sciences, backed by mid-market private equity investment firm Limerston Capital, has completed the acquisition of Charnwood Discovery.
- The deal underlines CLS’ ambitious growth strategy and strengthens its position as a market leader in pharmaceutical and life science sectors.
- CLS is an established CRO and it will benefit from the experience and track record in delivering integrated drug discovery programs brought by Charnwood’s scientific talent.
CLS
UK-based drug discovery, development and manufacturing organisation, Concept Life Sciences (CLS), backed by mid-market private equity investment firm Limerston Capital, has completed the acquisition of Charnwood Discovery.
The deal underlines CLS’ ambitious growth strategy and strengthens its position as a market leader in pharmaceutical and life science sectors.
Based in Nottingham, Charnwood Discovery is one of the UK’s top providers of drug discovery research with a global client base in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors. Its offering spans standalone customised drug discovery services and solutions, through to fully integrated projects where its leading Chemistry, Biology and ADME/DMPK scientists work closely with customers to enhance the experience and success of complex drug discovery.
The addition of Charnwood to CLS will further strengthen its ability to deliver innovative science and help customers accelerate drug candidates to clinic with high success rate, across different modalities.
CLS is an established contract research organisation (CRO) and it will benefit from the experience and track record in delivering integrated drug discovery programs brought by Charnwood’s scientific talent.
In turn, Charnwood customers will gain from the breadth and depth of capabilities at CLS, including its experience in translational biology to deliver turn-key solutions in small molecule, biologics and other advanced therapeutic modalities. Customers will also have access to CLS’ GMP manufacturing capability that is pivotal for bridging the gap between early phase to later phase clinical trial manufacturing needs.
The deal comes at a time of uncertainty in the drug discovery CRO sector as the US Biosecure Act, passed by the House of Representatives in September 2024, could prohibit US customers from working with select Chinese CROs.
The integration of Charnwood talent and capabilities into CLS creates a compelling offering from a UK-based CRO with scale to serve global customers looking to pull away from Chinese providers and identify alternative providers with superior scientific capabilities. CROs located in countries with more regulatory certainties, and which have better IP protection will become more attractive in the marketplace.
Dr. Ben Cliff, CEO of Concept Life Services, said: “Charnwood Discovery brings an outstanding team of scientific talent and an extensive global client base. Like CLS, they are deeply committed to excellence and innovation in accelerating drug discovery. By combining our strengths, we’re able to fully integrate our capabilities and significantly speed up the progression of promising drug candidates from development through clinical trials to commercial production—at up to twice the pace of the industry average.”
Lee Patterson, for Charnwood Discovery, said: “CLS has an excellent reputation as an innovative and dynamic player in our field, and we see enormous potential to develop our portfolio of high-value, rapidly growing services, while advancing the development of new and complex therapies in biotech and pharmaceutical industries as well as emerging modalities such as cell and gene therapies (CGT) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). Our customers will see the immediate benefit of new investment, as well as access to state-of-the-art facilities and collaboration with leading scientists and professionals at CLS.”
Jane Grewar, operating partner at Limerston Capital and Chairman of CLS, added: “We’re thrilled to welcome the Charnwood Discovery team to CLS. CLS has long been dedicated to driving innovation in support of our clients across biotech, pharmaceutical, small molecules, and emerging modalities such as cell and gene therapies (CGT) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADC).
"With the addition of Charnwood’s expertise in delivering fully integrated programs, we’re able to enhance our comprehensive offering and deliver truly cohesive solutions. This integration strengthens our ability to help clients identify and advance the best candidates to clinic faster, further reducing our industry-leading timelines and supporting their mission to deliver impactful therapies to patients.”