Concept Life Sciences announces acquisition of Aquila BioMedical

Aquila’s world-leading expertise focuses on the development of therapeutics for oncology, biomarker discovery, and target expression, with services covering a wide range of in vitro and in vivoproof-of-concept studies. The acquisition is a pivotal addition to the comprehensive range of integrated services Concept provides, supporting customers throughout the drug discovery and development process. Aquila was formed in 2011 by experts from The University of Edinburgh.  

Aquila has developed novel technologies to help customers to better understand the cellular and molecular events that occur with compound administration. Bespoke assays allow both phenotypic screening and target based research methods, to enable hit identification and optimisation of compound and target selection, directly increasing the compound success rate and reducing the overall cost associated with drug development.

Michael Fort, Executive Chairman, Concept Life Sciences, said: “We are excited to add Aquila to the Concept group. The company’s offering in translational biology adds significant value to our current discovery services, and broadens the wider group’s therapy offering. Both Aquila and Concept have been built around the same value of working closely with customers to tailor services according to the project objectives, and together we will provide high quality, integrated solutions.”

Professor Stephen Anderton, co-founder of Aquila Biomedical and Professor of Therapeutic Immunology at Edinburgh University, commented: “We are delighted to be joining the Concept Life Sciences group at this stage in both companies' development cycles. Concept's size, business development network and complementary scientific capacity will make the enhanced service offering attractive to the widest group of international clients, and will significantly accelerate our growth.”

Dr Howard Marriage, Entrepreneur and co-founder and Chairman of Aquila BioMedical said: “The board is immensely grateful to Clare Doris, COO, and her talented and committed team of 25 staff who have built an international client base and profitable business over the last six years. I look forward to the continued development of the Aquila contribution to Concept Life Science from their base in Edinburgh’s BioQuarter.” 

Professor Jonathan Seckl, Vice Principal of Planning, Resources and Research Policy at the University of Edinburgh, said: “We congratulate the Aquila team on this milestone in their approach to building advanced biology into innovative drug discovery. This investment highlights the University’s commitment to successfully translating our world-class research into practical application by industry.”