Quotient, buoyed by Covid-19 work, buys Arcinova in effort to build end-to-end CDMO brand
Flush with cash from Covid-19 work, contract manufacturers are having their own M&A mini-boom. Now, a UK-based manufacturing services firm is snagging another company headquarter on the Isles, looking to set up an end-to-end offering for customers.

Nottingham drug developer and manufacturing accelerator Quotient announced plans this week to buy Arcinova, another contract developer with over four decades in the industry.
Quotient said the move will further expand the company’s service portfolio by integrating drug substance, product and testing abilities under the same umbrella, according to a release. This, CEO Mark Egerton said, will further improve the company’s one-year drug development timeline savings already available through Quotient’s primary technology, Translational Pharmaceutics.
“I’d like to congratulate the Arcinova team on building an exciting business, and I am thrilled to be joining forces,” he said in a statement. “Both businesses are similar in culture and aspire to help customers accelerate molecules from candidate selection through development and on to commercial launch.”
Quotient has been buoyed in recent months by CDMO work in Covid-19 therapeutics, most notably an August partnership with ANA Therapeutics. The biotech in December was bought by NeuroBo, and ANA001 (or niclosamide capsules), remains in a clinical trial for possible development as a treatment for the respiratory virus.

Arcinova’s 160 employees will now join the fold at Quotient, which Arcinova executive chairman Ian Shott said aligns well with the goals the company has had since its inception.
“We set out to build a unique organization that accelerates the development of new medicines for patients in need,” Schott said. “We are delighted to move on to the next stage with Quotient as the perfect partner for Arcinova.”
Financial terms of the sale weren’t disclosed, but as part of the acquisition, Arcinova’s minority equity partner BGF will leave the business.