NEW YORK – Danish microbiome informatics firm Clinical Microbiomics A/S has merged with Germantown, Maryland-based microbiome contract research organization CosmosID, the firms announced on Wednesday. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
The combined entity will be the first microbiome service company with a global infrastructure of multiomics labs meeting good practice guidelines (GxP) standards, the firms said in a statement.
Clinical Microbiomics acquired metabolomics firm MS-Omics last year. Including the current merger, the new entity will be known as CMC (Clinical Microbiomics, MS-Omics, CosmosID) although the firm expects to rebrand in 2024. CMC will be headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with approximately 100 employees at three sites in Europe and North America.
The merger combines the systems biology expertise and advanced, customized bioinformatics reporting of Clinical Microbiomics with the CLIA-certified laboratory and interactive software for data delivery from CosmosID, the firms said. The new entity allows customers access to local GxP laboratories with rapid turnaround times and adherence to regulatory standards as well as an analytical platform incorporating advanced bioinformatics and integrative systems biology. The integration of Clinical Microbiomics and CosmosID is also expected to provide an opportunity to accelerate standardization to ensure reliability and comparability of results, addressing a major hurdle for global studies, the firms said.
Anders Grøn, current CEO of Clinical Microbiomics, will serve as CEO of CMC, while Manoj Dadlani, the current CEO of CosmosID, will serve as chief commercial officer and president of the North America business. Henrik Knudsen will serve as CFO, H. Bjørn Nielsen will be CSO, Kelly Moffat will head US operations and global NGS technologies, and Morten Danielsen will oversee EU operations and global metabolomics technologies.
"Our aim is clear: to enable and empower microbiome scientists with new tools, concepts, and insights that will catalyze groundbreaking discoveries," Grøn said in the statement.
Dadlani also noted that the merger will enable customers to ship samples to one location in each region for microbiome and metabolite profiling when running global microbiome studies, and to receive the data, results, and analytics in a standardized form through interactive software and customized reports.
"We're excited about the convenience and excellence this brings to our clients and the broader scientific community," he said.