Viva Biotech buys Hong Kong CRO for early drug discovery edge

Viva Biotech has agreed to acquire SYNthesis to expand its foothold in China's drug research services. The Shanghai-based contract research organization will pay $80 million for the Hong Kong-based preclinical drug discovery company, which focuses on providing high-end medicinal chemistry and synthetic chemistry services to drug developers.

Viva has been looking to position itself as a one-stop drug service platform and sees this acquisition as a move to strengthen its vertical integration.

"We believe that SYNthesis's technical platform and international team in the field of pharmaceutical chemistry and synthetic chemistry will quickly strengthen the capabilities of Viva Biotech from early drug discovery service to drug R&D downstream business, as well as boost [our] downstream integration to CMC and CDMO fields," Viva's chairman and CEO Cheney Mao said in a statement.