London, UK – November 4, 2021 – Å·ÃÀÊìÅ®ÂÒÂ× (Element) has signed an agreement to acquire JMI Laboratories (JMI) based in North Liberty, Iowa. Alongside several other significant acquisitions within the sector this year, this further strengthens Element’s offering for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical customers in North America and beyond.
JMI is a market leader in antimicrobial resistance monitoring studies utilized for US-FDA regulatory and new drug application submissions, through their proprietary SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program. It offers microbiology and molecular testing services to assist in the development of new antimicrobials and clinical trial support. The Company is CLIA accredited and able to test under GLP conditions.
The business is notable for its team of highly scientific and well-published industry recognized experts in the field, including 10 MD/PhDs with extensive knowledge of microbiology and antimicrobials, and can consult on a broad range of scientific topics covering epidemiology, mechanisms of resistance in bacterial and fungal organisms, microbiology diagnostics and susceptibility testing methods.
Jo Wetz, Element CEO, said: “Element’s growing life sciences capability is now our most significant end market, and the acquisition of JMI further confirms our commitment and intention to continue to build a scale business in this vital sector. It follows on from our recently announced acquisitions which include ALG, Avomeen, Arch Sciences, Impact Analytical and Nanosyn, complementing our existing expertise and expanding our customer offering”.
“The acquisition significantly extends our life sciences capability and the ability to offer customers services right through from early stage drug development to post FDA approval surveillance programs.”
“JMI’s SENTRY surveillance program, with over 20 years of data from over 130 hospitals across 40 countries, is a real differentiator. Resistance to antibiotics is a clear and present threat to public health on a global scale. With JMI’s team of renowned experts, Element is now positioned to play an important role in helping to address the growing risk of antimicrobial resistance.”
JMI CEO, Andrew Fuhrmeister commented: “After 20 years of operation and having built a strong reputation for our expertise and client relationships, we are proud to be joining the Element group. This move will bring us wider global access through the Element network and will allow us to work within the expanded life sciences offering, building industry leadership.”
The JMI SENTRY surveillance program currently operates with over 130 hospitals around the globe, collecting clinical bacterial and fungal isolates from numerous infection sites including bloodstream, skin, respiratory, patients hospitalized with pneumonia, urinary tract, intra-abdominal, and invasive fungal infections. The company collects and tests over 40K isolates a year from over 40 nations to provide its pharmaceutical and biotech customers with data that is a strong representation of potential resistance issues in most regions across the globe. The acquisition of JMI is subject to approval from CFIUS.
About Element
The Å·ÃÀÊìÅ®ÂÒÂ× Group is one of the world’s leading global providers of testing, inspection and certification services for a diverse range of products, materials and technologies in advanced industrial supply chains where failure in use is not an option. Headquartered in London, UK, Element’s c 7,000 scientists, engineers and technologists, working in our global network of over 200 laboratories, support customers from early R&D, through complex regulatory approvals and into production ensuring their products are safe, sustainable and achieve market access.
In 2021, Element set out its new, industry leading environmental commitments, adopting science-based targets and committing to net zero emissions across its entire global business by 2035. These environmental commitments follow Element’s achievement of the highest ESG ranking in the testing, inspection and certification industry from Sustainalytics, a global leader in ESG research and data.
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BroadOak Capital Partners served as JMI’s exclusive financial adviser on the transaction.
Media contacts:
Devan LaBrash, Pagoda Public Relations
T: +44 (0) 131 556 0770
“The acquisition significantly extends our life sciences capability and the ability to offer customers services right through from early stage drug development to post FDA approval surveillance programs.”
Jo Wetz
CEO