CiToxLAB Group, a leading CRO in the field of non-clinical research, announces today that the group’s consolidated first half 2012 revenues reached EUR 37.2M (USD 48.4 million approximately). This marks a 34 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2011.
CiToxLAB-North America, headquartered in Montreal, achieved revenues of CAD 17.8 million (EUR 13.6M). These are the highest since LAB-Research was founded and have resulted in a recruitment program of more than 100 new hires in the last 14 months.
In Europe, total revenues reached EUR 23.5 million (USD 30.5M approx). Revenues increased eighteen per cent and eight per cent at CiToxLAB-France and CiToxLAB-Hungary respectively while CiToxLAB-Scantox in Denmark remained stable. All four CiToxLAB sites had positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in H1 2012. CiToxLAB now employs more than 850 people.
The company explained that the good results, despite the morose general economic climate, were at least in part accounted for by the trend to outsourcing by the pharmaceutical industry. The latter is particularly true of the non-clinical research and in the developing fields of translational and predictive toxicology, where CiToxLAB has an attractive offer in terms of quality, speed and cost-effectiveness, the company said.
Reviewing the merger and its results, Dr Jean-François Le Bigot, chairman and CEO said: “Our merger has boosted market access with our presence in Europe (France, Denmark, Hungary) as well as in North America, through our Montreal facility. This international presence gives us a significant advantage in dealing with pharmaceutical companies and also brings together complementary expertise, e.g. assessment of biologics and vaccines in NHPs, inhalation studies in all species, studies in minipigs including in reprotox and juvenile studies.”
Dr Le Bigot also attributes much of the group’s success to investment over many years in growth technologies such as genomic analysis, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and multiplex biomarker analysis as well as in highly relevant models such as NHPs or minipigs. The group has also made a significant investment in the development and validation of in vitro predictive models.
“We view ourselves as a science-driven CRO and our long-term investments now enable us to start collaborations with our clients at an early stage of product development,” said Dr Le Bigot. “We see this as a win-win strategy, as our scientists and program managers acquire detailed knowledge of our clients and their programs, thus saving time and increasing efficiency. In an increasing number of cases, we now help with the screening of lead compounds and continue to work on the candidate drug right up to the NDA (New Drug Application) submission.
“With close to 20,000 GeneChips processed yearly in its French site, CiToxLAB is today one of the major service providers in the field of preclinical and clinical genomics. We do not intend to stand still and are discussing several innovative projects, which may involve the group in specific investigations during clinical trials running in parallel with chronic toxicity studies. This sort of project may lead us to collaborate not only with our direct clients but also with some major clinical CROs,” he said.
About CiToxLAB http://www.citoxlab.com
The CiToxLAB Group offers a comprehensive range of pre-clinical services to meet the needs of pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology companies worldwide.
CiToxLAB carries out studies in general and reproductive toxicology, carcinogenicity, bioanalysis, immunology and safety pharmacology. The group has special expertise in areas such as inhalation or intra-nasal research, radiation, NHPs and minipigs. Environmental studies are a further specialty including ecotoxicology and those related to REACH regulations.
Together with partners such as Atlanbio (St Nazaire, France) Stemina (Madison, USA) and Biomodels (Boston, USA), CiToxLab also provides services such as clinical bioanalysis, embryonic stem cell biomarker discovery and customized preclinical efficacy models.
CiToxLAB has around 60,000 square meters of state of the art facilities. The size and number of facilities offer its clients extreme flexibility and direct access to scientists and management. The existence of facilities in Europe and North America means clients benefit from both proximity and the advantages of a global group.
Created in 2011 through the merger of CIT and LAB-Research, CiToxLAB Group has more than 850 employees working on four sites (France, Canada, Denmark and Hungary).
