Fairmount Partners Helps DrugDev and CFS Clinical Come Together To Drive Clinical Trial Standards For Investigators, CROs and Sponsors

London, UK — October 21, 2103 — DrugDev acquired CFS Clinical of Audubon, PA, a portfolio company of Archbrook Capital Management LLC (Archbrook), a private equity firm based in Philadelphia and New York.

CFS Clinical is the industry leader in processing clinical trial payments, and also provides contracting and regulatory services to quickly and efficiently enroll and pay research sites for clinical trials.  CFS Clinical provides services to 8 of the top 10 biopharmaceutical companies in the world, and large and growing group of clients.

DrugDev is an interactive network and data sharing platform for over 80,000 clinical trial doctors in 93 countries.  DrugDev is based in London with operations in Princeton, New Jersey.

DrugDev and CFS Clinical’s combined infrastructure gives sponsors the ability to garner real–time feedback from investigators during the feasibility stages of a trial, rapidly select the right investigators who are best suited to run the trial, and finally engage with sites efficiently with high speed site activation and expedited payments through its industry leading global payment network.

The capabilities of the combined companies create a powerful offering in finding, engaging and paying Investigators. These solutions will be provided both as a full service business process and as Software as a Service (SaaS) to pharmaceutical and CRO clients. CFS Clinical’s technology-enabled service platform supports DrugDev’s overall mission to make the lives of clinical trial investigators simpler and easier, through standardization of their interactions with sponsors and CROs.

The acquisition is the first in a series that aims to bring a standardized, collaborative environment to the clinical trials process, making it easier for doctors and drug developers to engage with each other virtually, and therefore reducing the cost of drug development by eliminating labor intensive processes. The ‘virtual clinical trial’ space is currently highly fragmented, but is becoming more realistic with the development of cloud-based technologies that provide ‘building blocks’ for an effective virtual trial.

“This is just part of the solution to control the spiraling costs of clinical trials. By adding CFS’s study startup and investigator payment solutions to the portfolio, we extend our capabilities to implement standards, and so continue our journey of putting the Investigator back at the heart of the clinical trial process. CFS’ dominance in this space is shown as they have made investigator payments of in excess of $800m to date,” comments DrugDev President and CEO, Ibraheem Mahmood.

“DrugDev and CFS share a vision to revolutionize the way clinical trials are initiated and conducted” comments Greg Seminack , Founder and CEO of CFS Clinical.“By integrating our solutions, we’re providing a unique platform for conducting clinical trials. The combination of the companies focused expertise along with the financial commitment of DrugDev will allow CFS to continue to invest in processes that improve the investigator and sponsor experience in the conduct of global clinical trials.”

DrugDev Chairman Hugo Stephenson comments, “Investigators around the world have two major complaints when it comes to pharmaceutical research. They’d like better visibility into new trial opportunities, which our existing DrugDev network solves, and they’d like to avoid lengthy delays associated with payments they are owed, which we are now solving with CFS. Together we can address these issues and make it easier for more doctors and more drug developers to do more trials.”

CFS Clinical will maintain its brand name and conduct business as part of the DrugDev group.

Fairmount Partners, an investment banking that focuses on pharmaceutical services business, served as financial advisors to Archbrook Capital Management and CFS, with the support of Anderson LeNeave, a Charlotte based investment bank.

Neal McCarthy, Managing Director of Fairmount Partners noted, “Enrolling and paying investigative research sites is one of the worst bottlenecks in clinical research, and delaying clinical trials by months.   It is also one of the most inefficient aspects of clinical research, with as many of half of the research sites failing to enroll a single patient.”  He added “The $13 billion research site market is the least consolidated market in clinical research, and the combination of CFS and DrugDev has the opportunity to bring real value and leadership to this sector.”  This is the 99th transaction completed by members of the Fairmount Partners pharmaceutical services group, and the 5th assignment completed in 2013.

About CFS Clinical:

CFS Clinical (CFS) is a specialty provider focused on the business and financial management activities for clinical trials. The company offers a unique blend of contract, essential site document and cutting-edge investigator payment management services which operate in unison to accelerate cycle times, manage compliance and risk, and stimulate investigator relationships. With our focused expertise, innovative processes, and integrated technology we are able to provide high quality, cost effective service solutions that address critical study startup and financial issues affecting the clinical trials process – including the Sunshine Act.  CFS Clinical was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Audubon, PA. For more information, visit www.cfsclinical.com.

About Archbrook Capital Management:

Archbrook is a private equity firm based in New York and Philadelphia that partners with exceptional management teams who have superior business models and well-defined plans for growth.  Archbrook brings financial resources, expertise and patient capital to support the efforts of management to fully develop the companies’ competitive position, drive strategic and operational improvement and improve profitability.  For more information, visit www.archbrook.com.

About DrugDev:

DrugDev helps the clinical trials industry run faster, cheaper and smarter trials using a suite of tools built on the worlds’ largest investigator network and data sharing platform. DrugDev is used by study teams, feasibility and site ID groups at leading sponsors and CROs to reach out to a network of over 80,000 investigators in 93 countries by email, ensuring rapid completion of protocol feasibility and/or site ID tasks. DrugDev is the 3rd party host of the Investigator Databank, a global cross-pharmaceutical network of investigators. For more information, visit www.drugdev.org.

About Fairmount Partners

Fairmount Partners is one of the largest investment banking groups in the Mid-Atlantic region. The firm specializes in advising middle-market growth companies with mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic advice. Fairmount’s key focus areas include: Healthcare, IT and Business Services, Software & Technology and Industrial & Consumer businesses. Fairmount has completed transactions throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit: www.fairmountpartners.com.

Principals of Fairmount Partners acted as advisors to CFS Clinical in this transaction.

Contact

Neal McCarthy

Managing Director, Fairmount Partners

neal.mccarthy@fairmountpartners.com