LakePharma has acquired Blue Sky BioServices, a CRO specialising in protein and antibody production and assay services.
The combined company will be known as LakePharma, and is now the largest dedicated biologics CRO in the United States, providing a broad range of protein and antibody-related development services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets. Blue Sky BioServices is a portfolio company of Ampersand Capital Partners and as part of the transaction, Ampersand made an investment into LakePharma to support growth initiatives.
Bringing together LakePharma’s world class expertise in antibody development, protein expression and characterization, molecular biology and process development with Blue Sky’s leadership in bacterial and baculovirus systems, complementary molecular biology platforms, and assay services will provide the biologics discovery research market with a continuum of services never before offered by a single CRO. LakePharma has nearly 100 employees and four facilities located in the key San Francisco Bay Area and Cambridge/Boston biotech hubs.
“LakePharma and Blue Sky are extremely complementary businesses that joined to create a singular company with unparalleled capabilities, broad expertise and quality processes in biologics development and engineering,” commented LakePharma CEO and Founder Hua Tu, PhD, who will continue as CEO of the expanded organization. “This transaction positions us to engage and meet the needs of expanding markets while better serving our customers through continued investment in innovative, complementary services.”
“We see strong demand for the capabilities and expertise that the combined LakePharma will be able to offer,” says Eric Lev, Partner at Ampersand. “I look forward to working with Hua and the rest of the management team as they execute on LakePharma’s growth plan.”