UK-based analytical laboratory company LGC has acquired Germany's Mikromol, a specialist in the synthesis and sale of pharmaceutical impurities and metabolites as reference materials.
This acquisition marks the first move by the Group to set up laboratory facilities outside the UK, with Mikromol becoming its location for pharmaceutical synthesis and a centre of excellence for all aspects of pharmaceutical impurities and metabolites. It also marks a continuation of LGC's ambitions to expand its offerings to the drug industry through the formation of a new Pharmaceutical Services division.
Dr Ray Ah-Sun, LGC's director of new ventures, said: "The financial and technical resources of LGC will allow Mikromol to increase its product range and to expand its services to the pharmaceutical industry, especially in process development."
He added that the acquisition would enable the group to strengthen its position "in the interface between the regulators and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries."
Reference materials are needed to fully characterise drug compounds and formulations and are an essential component of both regulatory submissions and quality control in batch release.
LGC and Mikromol already have a working relationship, as the UK company's LGC Promochem division has acted as the exclusive distributor of Mikromol's reference standards across Europe and in India.
Mikromol said that all its staff at the company's facilities in Luckenwalde Technologie Park, where an expansion programme is under way, will keep their jobs.