Caprion Biosciences has acquired Primity Bio Inc., a specialized provider of biomarker and immune monitoring services located in Fremont, California. 

“The acquisition of Primity Bio provides us access to highly complementary and well-differentiated biomarker and immune monitoring services while considerably expanding our geographic reach to better support the global clinical needs of our clients,” said Martin Leblanc, president and chief executive officer of Caprion.  “Building on the acquisition of ImmuneHealth, which delivered a critical European footprint, this US expansion and the opportunity to work with the highly talented and innovative scientific team at Primity significantly enhances our ability to deliver on Caprion’s service diversification and international expansion strategy.”

Founded in 2010 by Peter Krutzik, PhD, and Tom Wehrman, PhD, Primity Bio is a leading provider of cutting-edge flow cytometry services with deep expertise in assay development, early drug discovery, pre-clinical animal sample analysis, biomarker discovery, and advanced human clinical sample analysis.  Using the latest in single-cell analysis technologies, Primity specializes in highly complex immunophenotyping, intracellular signaling, cell sorting (FACS), and high-parameter CyTOF (mass cytometry) analysis. 

“Joining forces with Caprion will provide critical commercial channels to deliver our innovative services to a broader array of global biopharma partners and facilitate the launch of our distributed cloud computing flow cytometry analysis software, CellEngine,” said Peter Krutzik, chief executive officer of Primity Bio. 

“Primity’s proprietary technologies for biomarker discovery, cell signaling analysis by flow cytometry, and combination of pre-clinical and clinical capabilities are true differentiators in the industry, and are highly complementary to Caprion’s existing services and CAP/CLIA-certified laboratories,” said Tom Wehrman, Primity’s vice president of R&D.

This announcement marks Caprion’s second acquisition since GHO Capital’s investment in July 2016.  With this acquisition, Caprion adds an operational location in the US in addition to those of its headquarters in Montreal, Canada, and its European site in Gosselies, Belgium, acquired in 2016.  Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.