Frontage Expands DMPK Services by Acquiring Biotranex

According to frontagelab.com, Frontage Holdings Corporation ( "Frontage" or "Company", 1521.HK), a contract research organization ("CRO") providing integrated, science-driven research, analytical and development services with presence in both North America and China, today announced that Frontage Laboratories, Inc. ("Frontage Labs"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Frontage, entered into an equity purchase agreement with third party individuals. According to the agreement, Frontage Labs purchased the entire equity interest in Biotranex, LLC ("Biotranex").

Biotranex, an innovative biotech service company located in New Jersey, USA, is principally engaged in providing a broad spectrum of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. It offers a variety of services to study transporter properties of new chemical entities to meet the FDA and EMA guidance such as mono- or bi-directional permeability determination in CACO-2, MDCK and P-gp- and BCRP-transfected cell lines; transporter phenotyping/inhibition (IC50 or Ki) and hepatic uptake in hepatocytes from humans and preclinical species. 

Biotranex has also developed proprietary technologies, such as BSEPcyte^® and MDR3cyte^® in understanding the role of Bile Salt Export Protein (BSEP) and Multidrug Resistance Protein 3 (MDR3) in drug-induced liver injury (DILI).

Expressing his thoughts about the acquisition, Dr. Abdul Mutlib, Executive Vice-President of Drug Metabolism Pharmacokinetic (DMPK) Services at Frontage, said "The acquisition will fill our existing gap in transporter assay capabilities at Frontage Labs. This will now enable us to provide a more comprehensive set of DMPK services to existing and new clients. It is anticipated that Biotranex will strengthen the client base by bringing in new and existing clients, and become a center of excellence in transporter studies."

Dr. Kan He, General Manager of Biotranex, LLC also expressed his excitement about the acquisition, specifically stating "Biotranex brings onboard decades of experience and expertise in transporter research and services, which will form incredible new synergies and opportunities at Frontage. We believe that through the acquisition we will establish a center of excellence, helping Frontage to be the global leader in ADME research services."

Frontage is a fast-growing contract research organization providing integrated, science-driven research, analytical and development services throughout the drug discovery and development process to enable pharmaceutical companies to achieve their drug development goals. The Company benefits greatly from having operations in both North America and China – the two largest markets for CRO services in the world and is well placed to capture growth opportunities in both markets.