Cato and Pharm-Olam merge to target small and mid-sized pharma

Cato SMS and Pharm-Olam have merged in a bid to capture a bigger share of the small and mid-sized clinical services market.

The firms – which are based in Research Triangle Park North Carolina in the US and Bracknell in the UK, respectively – said the combined organization will offer a greater breadth and depth of clinical research support services.

The plan is to target small and mid-sized drug companies which, Cato SMS and Pharm-Olam say, often struggle to find contract research organizations (CRO) that are willing to provide them with the support they need.

Cato CEO Mark Goldberg said the firms “are creating an organization that will lead the industry in addressing an exciting opportunity and tremendous need.

He added that, “Our goal is to be the market leader in meeting the needs of small to mid-sized biopharmaceutical companies."

The CROs will continue to serve clients under their respective brands until they announce the new name of the combined organization, expected in early 2022. Pharm-Olam CEO Rob Davie retire and serve as senior advisor to support the transition.

The combined CROs will have staff of more than 1200 and a network of 35 offices in more than 60 countries.

C-suite and COVID

The merger comes half a year after Cato bought Nuventra to extend its offering into the critical area of clinical pharmacology.

In the months between the CRO appointed several new executives, including a regulatory strategy leader, a head of clinical trial operations and a chief medical officer.

For Pharm-Olam 2021 was focused on COVID.

In January the US Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) hired Pharm-Olam to support a trial of Adalimumab as a COVID-19 therapy.

In May it started recruiting for a Phase III trial Valneva’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate VLA2001, with AstraZeneca’s conditionally approved vaccine, Vaxzevria.

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