BioIVT Acquires PPA Research Group, Increasing its Ability to Support Drug Development, Cell and Gene Therapy Research

WESTBURY, N.Y., Oct. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BioIVT, a leading provider of research models and services for drug and diagnostic development, today announced that it has acquired PPA Research Group, Inc., a human hematologic product provider, based in Gray, TN. This acquisition will significantly expand BioIVT’s immunology and disease-state product portfolios, enhancing its ability to support immuno-oncology and cell therapy researchers.

PPA Research Group operates full-service donor centers in Johnson City, TN and Berkeley, CA focused primarily on producing leukopaks. Leukopaks contain concentrated leukocytes together with high levels of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Leukopaks are used during drug development for target discovery, validation, lead optimization, and toxicity assays as well as for stem cell and gene therapy research.

In addition to having its own healthy donor collection sites, PPA Research Group has the largest nationwide diseased hematologic tissue collection network with the largest repository of donor profiles in the nation.

“With the addition of PPA Research Group, BioIVT gains greater access to disease-state and control leukopaks, plasma and sera, and extra immune cell processing capabilities, which will allow us to meet growing client demand, particularly in the areas of immuno-oncology and cell therapy,” said BioIVT Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Gatz. “This acquisition, which is BioIVT’s eighth since 2017, furthers our mission of becoming the partner of choice for biopharmaceutical clients and industry experts in specialty application areas.”

“We are excited to join BioIVT and begin the next phase of our company’s growth. This move will allow us to play a greater role in life sciences research and broaden the range of products and services that we can offer to our global clients,” said PPA Research Group Co-founder and CEO Kevin King. “BioIVT’s commitment to providing the best products and customer service equals our own and we are confident that this new relationship will be a clear win for all our clients.”

Underscoring its commitment to providing high quality products and services, PPA Research Group is HIPAA licensed, FDA registered and compliant, and institutional review board (IRB) compliant.

This purchase builds on BioIVT’s acquisition of Colmar, PA-based Biological Specialty Corporation and its three donor centers in Nov. 2018, and London, UK-based Clinical Trials Laboratory Services’ donor center in Oct. 2018.

BioIVT will retain PPA Research Group’s two donor centers and all its employees. Financial details about this transaction were not disclosed.

About PPA Research Group, Inc.
Established in 2009, PPA Research Group is a biotechnology company dedicated to providing global life science companies with the highest quality hematologic tissues and cells that enable drug discovery, development, and immunotherapy studies. We specialize in tissue collections, and hematology and immunology cell isolations, using gold standard technology. PPA Research Group has a large donor pool in multiple locations that can meet various research applications. Our fresh hematologic cells are processed within a one- to three-hour timeframe after the tissue is collected to produce high quality and purified cell types. Our products are distributed worldwide. For more information, please visit www.pparesearch.com.

About BioIVT
BioIVT is a leading global provider of research models and value-added research services for drug discovery and development. We specialize in control and disease-state biospecimens including human and animal tissues, cell products, blood and other biofluids. Our unmatched portfolio of clinical specimens directly supports precision medicine research and the effort to improve patient outcomes by coupling comprehensive clinical data with donor samples. Our PHASEZERO^® Research Services team works collaboratively with clients to provide target and biomarker validation, phenotypic assays to characterize novel therapeutics, clinical assay development and in vitro hepatic modeling solutions. And as the premier supplier of hepatic products, including hepatocytes and subcellular fractions, BioIVT enables scientists to better understand the pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism of newly-discovered compounds and their effects on disease processes. By combining our technical expertise, exceptional customer service, and unparalleled access to biological specimens, BioIVT serves the research community as a trusted partner in elevating science. For more information, please visit www.bioivt.com or follow the company on Twitter @BioIVT.

BioIVT Contact: Courtney Noah, Vice President of Marketing, 516-483-1196
Media Contact: Lisa Osborne, Rana Healthcare Solutions, 206-992-5245, lisa@ranahealth.com

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SOURCE BioIVT