CRO

Spain's Henko Partners looks to form European CRO with latest investments

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Spanish equity firm Henko Partners is looking to create a pan-European CRO through its latest clinical trial investments. (sharrocks/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images)

Henko Partners, a Madrid-based private equity firm, is investing in two separate clinical trial companies to build a new European CRO.

The firm invested in PopsiCube and MissionTEC, a pair of CROs based in France. Specific financials of the investments weren’t disclosed. The investment follows the stake Henko took last year in Spanish CRO BioClever, which specializes in biometrics, the company said in a May 4 press release.

The investments are part of Henko’s goal of building a CRO that offers a wide range of services to cover all aspects of trials, including early- to late-phase studies and decentralized clinical trials.

PopsiCube is known for its CRO experience, and MissionTEC (a subsidiary of PopsiCube) has developed strategies for decentralized clinical trials, which have grown exponentially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced trials to adopt more off-site digital solutions due to quarantine restrictions.

Henko plans to continue to invest in CROs throughout Europe.