UK's Sterling Pharma Solutions Buys Cary's CiVentiChem

CiVentiChem logo

CiVentiChem, a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing company with international headquarters in Cary, has been purchased by Sterling Pharma Solutions, a British company in the same business.

Sterling said it bought CiVentiChem to offer better access to its U.S. clients and enhance its chemistry development capabilities to support pre-clinical and early-phase clinical supply. The companies did not disclose financial terms.

CiVentiChem, founded in 1994, established its contract development and cGMP (contract Good Manufacturing Practices) production of small molecules and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for drug companies at its Cary location in 2005. It provides both generics and clinical supplies.

CiVentiChem headquarters in Cary
CiVentiChem headquarters in Cary. -- Courtesy of CiVentiChem

The company was co-founded by Bhaskar Venepalli, Ph.D., MBA, FRSC, president and CEO, and Duke University scientist Srinivas Chittineni, Ph.D., managing director. Venepalli also serves as a member of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center board of directors.

Venepalli said CiVentiChem's 23 employees remain at the facility, which is being renamed Sterling USA . 

CiVentiChem has retained its large-scale manufacturing plant in Hyderabad, India, which continues to operate "as a separate entity to Sterling." 

“We have developed excellent relationships with many clients and this acquisition will make Sterling a global player in CDMO business,” said Venepalli in the announcement of the sale to Sterling.  

Sterling said the acquisition feeds into a run of record growth. It said its sales have more than doubled since its formation in 2016, following a management buy-out. The purchase of the CiVentiChem facility comes on the heels of a majority acquisition of Sterling by a European healthcare investor, GHO Capital, earlier in 2019.

“We’ve been keen to expand our presence in the U.S. market, and the site’s capabilities complement our current service offering," said Sterling CEO Kevin Cook.

“The North American market now makes up 70 percent of our customer portfolio which was one of the major reasons behind the decision to look for a facility in the U.S.," added 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.”

Sterling says it is the U.K.’s largest provider of small-molecule API development and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical industry, specializing in handling challenging chemistries, with facilities capable of scaling from proof-of-concept to commercial manufacture.

CiVentiChem is recognized as a leading provider of solutions for complex chemistry problems encountered by life science companies. Its Cary facility houses development laboratories and kilo-scale cGMP suites.

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