QPS is reaching out to Hepregen to boost its early stage development offerings, licensing the company's "liver-in-a-dish" technology for drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic testing.
Under the deal, QPS now has the rights to offer its clients HepatoPac and HepatoMune, used in metabolite identification, profiling, and clearance studies. In addition to the license, the two have teamed up to co-promote HepatoPac for DMPK, splitting the effort in marketing and selling the service.
The agreement covers North America and Europe, and QPS plans to fully integrate Hepregen's services by the third quarter, offering rat, dog, monkey and human HepatoPac models through its facilities in Delaware and North Carolina.
It's the first deal of its kind for Hepregen, and joining forces with a growing CRO like QPS gives the company an opportunity to expand the adoption of its platform, CEO Vincent Zurawski said.
"QPS brings an extraordinary capability and expertise in bioanalytical technology and hepatic cell biology to our partnership and a strong commitment to a progressive vision in the growing field of hepatic sciences," Zurawski said in a statement. "Moreover, QPS is an exceptionally well-managed company, as demonstrated by its outstanding record of growth in the last five years. We are extremely pleased to be engaged with such a strong partner in this paradigm-shifting endeavor."
For QPS, the pairing dovetails with its February establishment of QPS Hepatic Biosciences, a cell-based research unit in Research Triangle Park, NC, born from a deal with the Hamner Institutes.
The CRO has been restless in growth over the past two years, buying Miami Research Associates' Phase I unit and patient recruitment operation earlier this year. Before that, QPS bought JSW, Austria's largest CRO, to bolster its Phase II-IV offerings, and snapped up India's Bioserve, the Netherlands' Xendo and Taiwan's Center of Toxicology and Preclinical Science.
- read the announcement