Frontage’s stake means that the company now co-owns New Jersey-based BDM along with parent company Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting, which has a 55% stake in BDM and is one of the top late-phase CROs in China.
Azhar Kalim, VP of business development at Frontage, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that the acquisition of BDM and its 30 employees, many of which are PhDs and MDs, is complementary to Frontage’s business in New Jersey, where the company owns two early phase clinical research facilities.
The overlap of client bases between BDM and Frontage isn’t that extensive as BDM works on a lot of oncology trials, Kalim said, noting that there will be more collaborations in cardiovascular and other trials. Both companies, however, focus on mid-sized and smaller biopharma clients.
BDM will continue to operate independently under the leadership of Sam Liang, its founder and president.
The acquisition is expected to add value in BDM’s market position across Asian markets as well. The company has a group of about 10 employees in China that support more early phase trials, which could be complementary to Tigermed.
“This is a strategic combination of Frontage’s clinical development expertise with our biometrics services,” said Liang. “Both organizations will benefit by being able to offer clients a more comprehensive solution for clinical trial support.”