Almac Group acquires Athlone lab in multi-million euro deal

Almac has acquired BioClin, which owns a 14,000sq ft facility in Athlone

The Northern Ireland headquartered Almac Group has acquired a drug analytical company based in Athlone for what is understood to be a multi-million euro deal.

Established in 2002, BioClin is a contract laboratory that provides analytical and data reporting services for the purposes of drug development. Today’s acquisition brings ownership of its 14,000sq ft facility in Garrycastle, Athlone, into the hands of Almac Group.

Noting that this acquisition sets the pace for future growth, Dr Stephen Barr, managing director at Almac Sciences, said: "Adding BioClin's highly complementary analytical capacity and technical expertise to our existing capabilities, we are able to broaden our service offerings."

"We see this as an excellent strategic fit for BioClin enabling us to expand and deliver an enhanced range of analytical solutions to an international client market," said Mary Burke, BioClin Laboratories managing director.

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Today's announcement follows the recently completed expansion of Almac's analytical facilities in Northern Ireland and the beginning of a project at the group owned Arran Chemical Company, also based in Athlone.

Almac is a privately owned company operating in Northern Ireland for almost 50 years. Throughout its worldwide operations, the company employs around 5,000 people.

Peter Hamilton

Peter Hamilton

Peter Hamilton is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in business