PerkinElmer will bolster its preclinical portfolio and cell and gene therapy manufacturing capabilities through the acquisition of Nexcelom.

PerkinElmer will pay  $260 million in cash, with the transaction anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2021.

“Nexcelom’s leading cell counting and analysis solutions are a strong complement to PerkinElmer’s preclinical high content imaging, cell painting and automation portfolio for drug discovery and will enhance our ability to support customers in the manufacturing QA/QC phase of cell and gene and biologics therapies,” Alan Fletcher senior vice president, Life Sciences at PerkinElmer told BioProcess Insider.

Image/iStock: metamorworks

He continued: “Together we will be able to better help academic, government and biopharmaceutical customers solve some of their most complex biological questions by providing innovative cell solutions that span across the entire discovery to development workflow and are aimed at increasing speed, productivity, and predictability.”

Nexcelom employees will merge with PerkinElmer employees with what Fletcher described as “a focus on growth and opportunity for our teams and continuity for our customers.”

Attained assets

According to the firm, it is not only staff that it gains through the acquisition. Once the deal has closed, Nexcelom’s products will be part of PerkinElmer’s portfolio.

The technology ranges from “high performance brightfield and fluorescence cell viability counters including their flagship Cellometer and newer Cellaca MX products [through] to Celigo, their high throughput microwell image cytometry workstations, consumables and reagents,” said Fletcher.

Nexcelom headquarters is based in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Fletcher told us this “will be a great location for some new PerkinElmer Labs,” adding the firm “also have a software engineering team in San Diego, California a location which will be a good recruiting draw for us.”

In adding the aforementioned assets, the company believes it “will work to accelerate PerkinElmer’s market share in cell and gene therapy, biologics, discovery and development.”