Fortrea has agreed to acquire the early-phase services division of fellow CRO Worldwide Clinical Trials for $45 million.
The acquisition will have Fortrea take over Worldwide’s clinical pharmacology unit and bioanalytical laboratory operations, according to a Wednesday release.
The deal aims to strengthen the front end of Fortrea’s drug development platform, which supports phase 1 to 4 development. It also includes a 60,000-square-foot GLP bioanalytical lab, a 200-bed GCP-compliant clinical pharmacology unit and a biospecimen storage facility, all located in Texas.
Fortrea, which spun out of Labcorp in 2023 and operates in 100 countries across all phases of development, aims to add capacity to execute early-phase studies and reduce handoffs between clinical and bioanalytical functions, streamlining the trial process.
The company said the deal will offer trial sponsors improved flexibility for larger and more complex trials, better access to distinct patient populations and increased bedspace capacity. Worldwide’s early-phase units will be part of Fortrea's clinical pharmacology services business unit as a result of the deal.
“Fortrea is making an important investment in early clinical development as part of our end-to-end clinical development platform supporting customers from first-in-human studies through Phase IV and post-approval evidence generation,” Fortrea's CEO, Anshul Thakral, said in the release. “We believe this acquisition strengthens our ability to create long-term value for shareholders while expanding the capabilities and capacity we provide to customers, volunteers and the patients we ultimately serve.”
Worldwide, which employs 4,500 people across 70 countries, made an early-stage focused acquisition in January when it bought Catalyst Clinical Research, a specialist oncology organization with expertise in early-stage cancer trials. It also signed an AI deal with Netramark to discover patient populations in data sets last year.
The company hopes to use the funds from the Fortrea deal to support its late-stage work in oncology, neuroscience, internal medicine and rare disease, according to Worldwide CEO Alistair Macdonald.
“We are grateful for all that the early-phase organization has accomplished and confident this creates new opportunities for our employees while enhancing our ability to invest in our long-term growth strategy—ensuring we continue delivering exceptional value to customers and patients around the world,” he said in a release.
After Fortrea launched in 2023, Acelyrin blamed it for the failure of its lead asset’s phase 3 trial for moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa after a dosing error. Fortrea sold a portion of the company to private equity in 2024 and Fortrea said goodbye to its inaugural CEO, Thomas Pike last year amid a stock freefall. Earlier this year, Fortrea launched its own suite of AI-powered technologies designed to improve trial efficiency.