Kindeva Drug Delivery said it will combine with Meridian Medical Technologies. The combination will create a leading global drug-device combination product contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). Kindeva and Meridian will continue to operate independently until closing.

The combined company will have a substantial breadth of drug delivery capabilities, with expertise and technology spanning the parenteral, inhalation, transdermal, and intradermal routes of administration. Milton Boyer, CEO of Meridian, will be CEO of the newly combined company.

“We are incredibly excited about the opportunities that will result from the combination of two companies with deep roots in complex drug delivery,” said Boyer. “The integrated, complementary offerings of Kindeva and Meridian create a CDMO with a broad portfolio of capabilities and proprietary technology platforms across multiple drug delivery formats, enabling us to serve customers and communities across multiple large and growing end markets.”

Kindeva and Meridian are operating companies of Altaris, LLC, a healthcare investment firm. Kindeva, formerly known as 3M Drug Delivery Systems, was acquired by Altaris in 2020 from 3M Company. Kindeva is a global leader in drug-device combination products with a focus on inhalation, transdermal, and intradermal drug delivery. The company has a long track record of innovation, having invented the first metered dose inhaler in the 1950s.

Meridian was acquired by Altaris in December 2021 from Pfizer Inc. Meridian focuses on the manufacture of rescue autoinjectors, having pioneered the rescue auto-injector technology in the 1950s and owning over 300 patents related to autoinjector drug-device combination products.