VWR said today it has acquired the global biorepository services organization EPL Archives for an undisclosed sum, in a deal designed to augment the buyer’s professional material management services to laboratory and production customers.
Founded in 1978, EPL Archives provides services that include nonclinical archiving, clinical biorepository and biobanking, regulated data management, manufacturing material storage, and specialized logistics and support services. The company says it serves biopharma customers across the entire regulated product research, development, and commercialization life cycle.
EPL Archives operates more than 190,000 square feet of biostorage facilities that include temperature-controlled, humidity-controlled, and ambient storage compliant with GLP, GCP, and GMP regulations. The privately held company is headquartered in Sterling, VA, with several locations in Virginia and Carros, France.
EPL Archives’ “portfolio of services will greatly complement VWR's current service offering, as a part of VWRCATALYST, allowing us to better serve our customers in achieving their goals by ensuring compliant storage of research, manufacturing and clinical trial materials,” Manuel Brocke-Benz, VWR’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
VWRCATALYST is VWR’s lab services unit, which now offers procurement and supply management, lab and production support, equipment and instrument services, lean Six Sigma lab process consulting, and “Science as a Service,” in which VWR associates with formal scientific education and experience are available to provide support at customers’ locations, according to their lab research needs.
EPL Archives is VWR’s second acquisition this year. On January 12, VRW said it acquired Seastar Chemicals, a manufacturer of high-purity reagents used in the global research, laboratory, and microelectronics industries, for an undisclosed price.
Headquartered in Radnor, PA, publicly traded VWR employs more than 10,200 associates and serves biopharma as well as industrial, education, government, and healthcare customers. The company finished 2016 with net income of $148.2 million, down 4% from the previous year, on net sales of $4.514 billion, up 4.5% from 2015.
