Element Scales its Health Sciences Business with ALG Acquisition

Element Scales its Health Sciences Business with ALG Acquisition

Element Materials Technology (Element) has acquired industry-leading pharmaceutical testing business, Analytical Lab Group (ALG) from Thompson Street Capital Partners, significantly strengthening Element’s market position in pharmaceutical testing in North America and another important step in growing its Life & Health Sciences segment.

ALG’s team of 130 scientists and experts operates a number of FDA and EPA compliance-focused laboratories in San Francisco, Minneapolis and Boston in the U.S., and has built a strong reputation in the infection prevention market, offering comprehensive testing solutions in the molecular cell biology and virology testing, antimicrobial, pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech and healthcare industries, backed by sound regulatory and scientific expertise. ALG is now able to offer SARS-CoV-2 antimicrobial and antiviral testing services to its customers in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, consumer products and medical device industries in accordance with EPA guidelines.

ALG adds a complimentary service extension to Element’s existing Life & Health Sciences business in the U.S. and Canada, bringing a wealth of capabilities including virology and virus identification, cell banking, antimicrobial and microbial testing, as well as environmental monitoring for hospitals and cleanrooms.

Jo Wetz, CEO at Element, said: “This acquisition will significantly strengthen our Life & Health Sciences business by enhancing Element’s technical expertise, commercial presence and geographical footprint within key pharmaceutical, virology and antimicrobial markets. The broader health sciences market will be a strong growth driver for Element in its next phase of development and when combined with our existing related capabilities in medical device and food testing, we now have almost 15% of the Group operating in these markets.

“ALG gives us an important presence in the infection prevention market, supporting our Health Sciences strategy to be a full-service solutions provider in this critical sector. In recent months, Element has been proud to support a number of clients with testing programs related to various aspects of potential COVID-19 vaccines and ventilator safety, demonstrating the wider impact of what we do.”

Element’s existing network of Life & Health sciences laboratories offers a broad spectrum of testing services to the pharmaceutical, food and medical device industries and boasts a proud track record of high-level scientific expertise, which positions us at the forefront of the industry. Our facilities provide specialist testing services, including chemical and physical characterization; formulation development; storage stability, extractable and leachable studies; elemental impurity testing on a wide range of drug, nutraceutical, medical device and consumer products; cytotoxicity, bioburden, endotoxin and TOC testing; pathogen identification; bacterial analysis and nutritional chemistry.

The transaction was funded out of existing Element Group resources alongside new investments from Element and ALG management, Bridgepoint, and Temasek.

About Element 

Element is one of the world’s leading independent providers of materials and product qualification testing, inspection and certification services to the global Aerospace; Transportation & Industrials; Energy; and Fire & Building Products sectors, where failure in service is simply not an option.

On December 31, 2019 Element acquired PCTEST, significantly scaling Element’s position in the high growth connected technology and IoT end markets, to provide leading global technology customers with wireless device and application testing and certification services through laboratories in the US, Japan, and Korea.

We exist to help our customers make certain that their materials, products and systems are safe, quality, compliant and ultimately fit for purpose, leveraging almost 200 years of testing experience and our global testing capabilities.