Mark Egerton, Chief Executive Officer, Quotient Sciences, spoke to Lu Rahman about the company’s acquisition of Arcinova and what it means for the drug discovery sector.
Quotient Sciences, the drug development and manufacturing accelerator, recently acquired Arcinova, the UK-based multiservice contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO). Boasting over 40 years of experience and 160 employees, Arcinova provides drug substance, drug product and bioanalysis services to over 200 pharma and biotech customers worldwide.
For Quotient, the acquisition expands its portfolio, enabling the integration of drug substance, drug product and clinical testing capabilities into one organisation.
LR: What does the acquisition of Arcinova mean for Quotient Sciences, and what will it enable the business to do that it currently can’t?
ME: Quotient Sciences currently supports customers with drug development and manufacturing solutions from early development through to commercial supply. Quotient acquired Arcinova because of its considerable expertise in working with customers from candidate selection to the clinical phase. Arcinova has a reputation for strong scientific input, including experience in process route selection, drug substance manufacturing and scale-up for challenging drug molecules.
LR: What are the main benefits the acquisition will create for Quotient Sciences’ customers?
ME: Quotient and Arcinova have complementary service portfolios, which will help deliver multiple synergies for the benefit of our customers – all centered on a common goal of integration. The acquisition will deliver the integration of drug substance, drug product and clinical testing capabilities all under one organisation with a single project manager, which, in turn, will help our customers through development timeline savings and subsequent reduced costs.
LR: Quotient Sciences believes that molecules need to become cures, fast – how does this acquisition fit into that belief, and how will it help expedite the drug discovery and development process?
ME: Beyond the complementary capabilities, Arcinova was an attractive acquisition target for Quotient because they share a similar culture and aspiration to help customers accelerate molecules and support the development of new medicines for patients in need. Science, agility and culture are the core components that define Quotient Sciences, and this is perfectly aligned with Arcinova’s culture, where deep science, agility, flexibility and the drive for customer service excellence are the cornerstones of the business.This naturally makes them a perfect partner, supporting the combined belief that molecules need to become cures. Fast.
LR: As a business, you also talk about cutting through silos across a range of drug discovery capabilities – will the acquisition play a part in that plan and how?
ME: As mentioned, the addition of Arcinova’s capabilities to Quotient’s service portfolio will enable the integration of drug substance, drug product and clinical testing capabilities – all under one organisation with a single project management function. This will cut through more drug industry silos, extending the 12-month timeline savings already delivered by Quotient’s platform Translational Pharmaceutics, and create additional multi-month timeline savings and simplify outsourcing programs for biotech companies.
Cutting through these silos and delivering a strong level of integration saves customers time and money in reaching key milestones as quickly and efficiently as possible, while ensuring better decision-making and more streamlined outsourcing.
LR: How is the future looking for Quotient Sciences, and where do you see opportunity in the market arising in the next few years?
ME: Quotient continues to address an exciting market opportunity. Funding for pharmaceutical R&D is at an all-time high and the number of drug candidates in the industry pipeline are at record levels. The acquisition of Arcinova expands our portfolio of services and enables us to support a customer program from discovery research through to commercial launch. We will continue to develop our capabilities to reflect customer need, with the ultimate objective of accelerating the delivery of new medicines to patients in need.
About Quotient Sciences
Quotient Sciences is an innovative global pharmaceutical development, clinical and commercial manufacturing organization providing services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. We support the drug development process from candidate selection to First-In-Human, through clinical testing all the way to commercial launch.
