PE firm merging companies to create ‘one stop shop’ for medical affairs

11-Dec-2018 - Last updated on 11-Dec-2018 at 19:40 GMT

(Image: Getty/NicoElNino)

The owners of Synteract, Amulet Capital Partners, have acquired a global health communications and market access group with plans to merge it with Peloton Advantage, which it purchased earlier this year.

Amulet Capital Partners, LP is a middle-market private equity (PE) investment firm. Based in Greenwich, CT, the company is the current owner of the contract research organization (CRO) Synteract. Most recently, Amulet acquired OPEN Health, a multi-disciplinary health communications and market access group.

Following the acquisition – terms of which were not disclosed – Amulet plans to merge OPEN Health with the medical communications provider Peloton Advantage, which it purchased earlier this year.

According to Amulet, the combined entity will operate in seven locations across three continents, with approximately 520 employees. OPEN Health’s current CEO David Rowley will continue to serve as CEO, supported by an executive team, including Sandy Royden, co-founder of OPEN Health, in addition to Peloton co-founders, Carolyn Clark and Michael McLaughlin. All management and employees will be retained.

“In fact, we will be hiring more people to keep up with the significant growth the businesses have been experiencing on a standalone basis,” said Avi Uttamchandani vice president of Amulet Capital.

Since February, Peloton has increased its employee base by 25% following investment from Amulet. Open Health also has increased its headcount by 22% over the last year.

“This merger creates one of the largest businesses in this space, making it an important transaction,” said Uttamchandani. “They have combined to become a leading global provider of medical affairs and commercial services to pharma companies.”

The deal expands the companies’ therapeutic area knowledge and geographic reach. “We think the global footprint opens up many opportunities for the companies that were not available to them in the past given their historic limited geographic footprint,” Uttamchandani said.

The companies also have complementary services offerings, providing an opportunity to create a “’one stop shop’ for all medical affairs needs,” he added.

Historically, Uttamchandani said Peloton has focused on publication planning, while Open Health has a broader service offering, including medical communications, health economics outcomes research (HEOR), market access, as well as real-world evidence (RWE).

Uttamchandani explained, “Amulet identified the medical affairs space a couple years ago and did a deep dive investment thesis, enabling us to identify both of these businesses and their strategic fit, on a proactive basis over time.”