Palatine’s Impact Fund backs growth in specialist pharma services provider tranScrip

Palatine Private Equity has completed the seventh investment from its Impact Fund, with the acquisition of a significant minority stake in tranScrip, a fast-growing global business playing a key role in the innovation and commercialisation of new medicines, including treatments for COVID-19.

Headquartered in the Thames Valley, tranScrip provides a wide range of specialist professional services to pharma companies, ranging from global players to dynamic, fast-growing biotechnology companies.

Operating internationally, tranScrip is playing a leading role in accelerating innovation in healthcare, enabling people to live longer and healthier lives.

Led by co-founders Managing Partner Dr Flic Gabbay, who has more than 35 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical sector, and Deputy Managing Partner Dr Marcin Mankowski with over 25 years in the industry, tranScrip has a unique skilled team combining in-depth pharmaceutical expertise and functional competencies to lead and operationally deliver successful development programmes and product launch across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, infectious diseases, respiratory and rare diseases.

Since its formation in 2008 the company has worked with more than 250 companies in Europe, North America and Asia, including most of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies as well as many biotechs.

Over the last 12 months tranScrip has focused heavily on COVID-19, where it leads and supports several innovative antiviral treatment programmes. Its teams have been involved in the conduct of novel studies with SNG001, an inhaled formulation of interferon, which has shown benefits in patients hospitalised due to COVID-19. (For more details see Monk et al, Lancet Respir Med 2020, Published Online, November 12, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30511-7).

Amid strong demand for tranScrip’s mix of specialist services from both large and small drug development firms, tranScrip’s revenues have increased dramatically over the last 18 months and are expected to continue to grow, especially with new investment.

Palatine’s £100m, returns-focused Impact Fund is dedicated to backing profitable businesses making a positive impact on the environment or society. Palatine was the first mainstream private equity house to raise an Impact fund, reflecting its progressive agenda of putting purpose and responsibility as central to its investment strategy.

Dr Flic Gabbay, Managing Partner at tranScrip said: “We are in an extraordinarily exciting period of disruptive growth in the life sciences sector, which is poised develop many exciting new drugs and devices faster than we would ever have imagined. tranScrip is looking forward to playing an even more significant role in the future.”

Tristan Craddock, Partner in Palatine’s Impact Fund said: “tranScrip is an agile and forward-thinking business delivering incredibly important services to accelerate the development of new medicines and treatments at a time of unprecedented investment and interest in the healthcare sector. The work it is doing to help people live longer, healthier lives, make this a classic Impact investment and we are looking forward to working with Flic, Marcin and the team to grow the business, both organically and using our sector experience to assess buy-and build opportunities.”

As part of the investment, Palatine has appointed experienced executive Paul McCluskey, the former CFO and CEO of private equity backed clinical research company Concept Life Sciences, and CFO of Synexus Clinical Research as non-executive Chairman.

Palatine was advised on the transaction by law firm Gateley, CIL Management Consultants, and BDO financial due diligence.