Element Materials Technology (Element) has signed an agreement to acquire JMI Laboratories based in North Liberty, IA, further strengthening Element’s offering for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical customers in North America and beyond.  
 
JMI is a market leader in antimicrobial resistance monitoring studies used for U.S. FDA regulatory and new drug application submissions, through their 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.
 
JMI’s team of highly scientific and industry recognized experts in the field, include 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.
 
The JMI SENTRY surveillance program currently operates with over 130 hospitals around the world, collecting clinical bacterial and fungal isolates from numerous infection sites, patients hospitalized with pneumonia, urinary tract, intra-abdominal, and invasive fungal infections. The company collects and tests over 40K isolates a year to provide its pharmaceutical and biotech customers with data that is a strong representation of potential resistance issues in most regions across the world.
 
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”.
 
“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 said, “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.”