Sterling buys CiVentiChem site

UK-based CDMO Sterling Pharma Solutions has acquired CiVentiChem’s US facility at Cary, close to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. The company said that this will enhance its capabilities for pre-clinical and early phase clinical supply and advance its strategy of building a global chemistry services business.

“The North American market now makes up 70% of our customer portfolio, which was one of the major reasons behind the decision to look for a facility in the US,” said CEO Kevin Cook. “This has been primarily driven by the market’s emerging pharma sector and customer demand for our specialist capabilities in complex and challenging chemistry.”

CiVentiChem was founded by Drs Bhaskar Venepalli and Srinivas Chittineni and supplies complex chemistry services to the pharmaceutical, biotech and life sciences industries. The US facility houses development laboratories and kilo-scale cGMP suites. The company’s Indian facility is not part of the current transaction.

In March, Sterling passed into the majority ownership of GHO Capital, a specialist European healthcare investor. The company claims to be the UK’s largest provider of small molecule API development and manufacturing services from its site at Dudley, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which back to 1972 and had passed through many hands before a management buy-out from Shasun Pharma Solutions in 2016.