Virgo Investment Group Announces CROs Clinipace and dMed Merge to Accelerate Growth

BURLINGAME, Calif., May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgo Investment Group LLC ("Virgo") announced portfolio company Clinipace Incorporated ("Clinipace"), a full-service Clinical Research Organization ("CRO") headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, has merged with dMed Global ("dMed"), a full-service CRO based in Shanghai, China. The strategic merger will create a global mid-size CRO that will deliver innovative solutions to patients worldwide, and meet the needs of fast-moving biotech, pharma, and medical device companies around the world. Together, Clinipace and dMed will offer advanced technologies, expertise in multiple therapeutic areas, and a footprint that will drive continued excellence for their collective customers. 

The combined company will have over 1,600 employees across 22 countries and a strong position as a highly differentiated mid-sized CRO that rivals the leading global CROs in geographic scope, services, and therapeutic expertise. The new company's capabilities in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America compete head-to-head with top-tier services from the leading CROs.

Current dMed Chairman and CEO, Dr. Lingshi Tan, will lead the new company as global CEO, with current Clinipace CEO, Mr. Jason Monteleone, assuming a new role as Chief Business & Strategy Officer.

Virgo's original investment through one of its managed funds in Clinipace occurred in 2015 as a partial debt refinancing and growth capital for tuck-in acquisition opportunities. Virgo Founder and CIO, Jesse Watson, joined the Clinipace board as Chairman in 2017 as Virgo rebuilt the team and significantly increased its ownership stake in the business. Since then, Virgo has worked closely with Clinipace to provie support in meeting forecasts and budgets, expanding the customer base and footprint, and ultimately drive growth.

"We are proud of the business transformation we achieved at Clinipace, in partnership with new management and the Board.  We were able to evolve the team, the culture, the business processes in both sales and clinical trial delivery, and the technology backbone of the company.  Clinipace brings a high growth business in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific to dMed. We believe the combined enterprise offers a unique capability to biotech and pharma customers focused on executing their trials and accessing multiple, global markets for their products," said Watson.

Monteleone went on to say, "Virgo was an excellent strategic partner throughout 2020 as Clinipace navigated the challenging aspects of COVID and in 2021 leading the merger with dMed. It has been a great journey both professionally and personally in transforming Clinipace together over the last 3.5 years and we are excited about the momentum of the merged enterprise."

Clinipace has almost 25 years of broad clinical experience, extensive regulatory expertise, and core therapeutic specialties in oncology, nephrology, rare disease, gastroenterology, and women's health. The company has an outstanding track record of multinational success and a reputation for strategic client partnerships. 

About Virgo Investment Group 
Founded in 2009, Virgo is a private investment firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area that has an established track record of building and transforming businesses. Virgo seeks to identify and grow unique business models into differentiated and profitable industry-leading companies. Virgo focuses on two distinct strategies - creating, building, and scaling asset-based/credit businesses, and executing transformative growth equity investments in Founder-led or Family-owned companies. The Firm has raised over $1.8 billion and completed 65 investments to date. For more information, please visit www.virgo-llc.com.

About Clinipace
Clinipace is a global, full-service Clinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) with a personal approach to clinical research. Clinipace delivers a level of collaboration and flexibility not possible in a traditional CRO environment, with an emphasis on personalized services and solutions, regulatory expertise, and therapeutic leadership. Its mission is to improve the way clinical research is performed in major therapeutic areas including oncology, rare disease, gastroenterology, nephrology, and women's health.

About dMed
Founded in 2016, dMed is a full-service Clinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) and has grown to nearly 700 professional staff covering more than 31 cities in China and three U.S. offices. In an era of unparalleled pharmaceutical innovation, dMed aspires to be a next-generation clinical development partner, empowering customers to deliver innovative solutions to patients worldwide, especially in the two largest healthcare markets, the U.S. and China. dMed's U.S. presence includes Target Health, a full-service technology driven CRO with expertise in digital capabilities and regulatory affairs.

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SOURCE Virgo Investment Group

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