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Ecron Acunova Buys Majority In Nordic CRO Firm

By TEAM VCC

  • 14 Apr 2011

Bangalore-headquartered healthcare custom research organisation (CRO) Ecron Acunova has acquired majority stake of aCROnordic, a CRO specialising in clinical research in Nordic countries, for an undisclosed amount. Ecron Acunova is backed by healthcare dedicated global fund Orbimed Advisors which invested Rs 30 crore in the firm in December 2009.

aCROnordic is a full service CRO covering Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, with its headquarters in bio-science park, SCION DTU in Hoersholm near Copenhagen. Sren Strh, founder and previous owner, will continue as CEO for Nordic region.

aCROnordic provides drug and medical device development services to pharmaceutical and medical device companies and to investors and biotech companies. Its clinical expertise is especially strong within neurology, oncology and cardiology streams. In addition to clinical research services, aCROnordic renders services in cross-functional drug development with focus on early development and regulatory strategy. Furthermore, aCROnordic provides strong technical expertise such as CDISC and hosting services.

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D A Prasanna, founder and chairman of Ecron Acunova, said: “A recent change in the strategy of sponsors in the healthcare industry asks for more global presence of preferred provider CROs. The merger of Ecron Acunova and aCROnordic, both having decades of track record, an excellent reputation and deep local knowledge in their geographies, yields substantial synergy to both of us for serving our clients’ needs.”

Sren Strh, founder and CEO of aCROnordic said: “Being part of a larger organization both improves our employees’ possibilities to develop their skills, but also improves the chances of satisfying their ambitions of personal development within the company.”

The deal will expand Ecron Acunova overseas business. The company is already offering full-service for phase I-IV clinical research, including clinical operations, data management, biostatistics, pharmacovigilance, PK/PD services and central lab to pharma, biotech, medical device, nutrition and diagnostic companies.

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It covers 19 western and eastern European countries as well as 7 South Asian and South East Asian countries. It has a team of 385 professionals including 73 MDs and PhDs.

Originally, a CRO founded by DA Prasanna, Manipal Acunova provided phase I – IV clinical development services with research facilities in Bangalore, Mangalore and Manipal. Four years ago it acquired Frankfurt-headquartered Ecron-- a two decade old German firm founded by Klaus Wiedey with specialisation in clinical development of drugs, devices and diagnostics for human use-- to form Ecron Acunova.

 

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