Following the exit of BGF and Gresham House Ventures, LDC has taken a majority stake in the UK’s largest site management organisation for commercial clinical trials.
Panthera Biopartners, the UK’s largest site management organisation (SMO) for commercial clinical trials, has raised an undisclosed sum from private equity investor LDC to support its expansion plans and further enhance its clinical capabilities.
Founded in 2019, Panthera specialises in the recruitment of patients and running Phase II and Phase III clinical trials. Its service offering spans trial planning, data collection and patient retention.
Headquartered in Preston, Lancashire, the company operates six UK sites with two more planned and provides clinical trials for eight of the 12 largest pharmaceutical companies and all seven of the largest clinical research organisations.
Access to a large number of principal investigators across the site network enables the business to service studies across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas, including vaccines, cardiovascular medicine, diabetes, neurology, respiratory medicine, dermatology, rheumatology and early dementia trials.
Last year, the company was the top global recruiter in four international clinical studies and had the first patient recruited in nine trials globally or within the UK.
Exceptional growth
The transaction marks a successful exit for BGF and Gresham House Ventures. Since their investment in 2022, the firm’s revenues have increased by more than 200%.
As part of the new structure, BGF will reinvest and continue to support the business as a minority shareholder alongside LDC.
“We’re proud to have supported Panthera through an exceptional period of growth, backing a highly capable team, in a growing and strategically important segment of the healthcare market,” said Jill Williams, partner at BGF.
“Since our initial investment in 2022, the business has expanded its UK footprint, entered new therapeutic areas, and enhanced its operational delivery through digital innovation. Panthera has developed into a market-leading SMO with a differentiated model,” she continued.
Grant Goodwin, investment director at LDC, added: “Patient recruitment and dropout rates have historically been one of the biggest hurdles to efficient clinical trial processes, and it’s this challenge that Panthera has proven it can solve.”
