CRO

Clinigen splashes £150M for unlicensed medicines company Quantum Pharma

Looking to boost its drug offerings, U.K. CRO Clinigen has paid £150.3 million (around $200 million) to buy out Quantum Pharma.

The CRO will gain specialty pharma group Quantum Pharma as it looks to create a new division to supply healthcare providers with so-called unlicensed medicines, i.e., those still in trials and not yet approved.

CEO Shaun Chilton told Reuters in an interview: “(Quantum) introduces an unlicensed medicine in the initial stages to cope with an unmet need and it converts it into a licensed medicine. That unlicensed-to-licensed piece acts as a bridge between two of our business operations: our unlicensed medicines division and our commercial medicines division.”

Clinigen is currently worth more than $1 billion in market value, while Quantum Pharma is worth less than $100 million.