Alcanza Clinical Research’s buying spree continues with the acquisition of FDI Clinical Research, a contract research organization based in Puerto Rico, an April 22 press release announced. The companies didn’t disclose the deal’s financial terms.
The purchase gives Alcanza two new research facilities, one at FDI’s headquarters in San Juan and another in Mayagüez, a city on the Caribbean island's west coast. The San Juan location includes a unit for phase 1 studies and is equipped to run first-in-human trials. About 98% of the population there is Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“The addition of FDI to the Alcanza site network accelerates our ability to reach more patients who are not traditionally represented with research participation opportunities across a range of increasingly prevalent diseases,” Alcanza CEO Carlos Orantes said in the press release. “FDI’s breadth of therapeutic expertise, access to diverse patient populations and ongoing commitment to reducing participation barriers…will better enable us to deliver on our promise to customers for inclusive research.”
The FDI acquisition is Alcanza’s second purchase this month. On April 9, the CRO announced it had bought a trial site in Florida owned by Innovation Medical Research Center. That site, too, is located in an area with a high density of Hispanic or Latinx patients, a population that historically has been excluded from medical research.