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Indianapolis-based life sciences consulting firm Pearl Pathways has been acquired by Milwaukee-based Versiti, a not-for-profit specializing in blood-health services, the parties announced Tuesday.
Founded in 2010, by former Eli Lilly and Co. employees Diana Caldwell and Gretchen Bowker, Pearl Pathways provides research, regulatory, quality-compliance and product development consulting services for drug, biologic and medical device companies.
Pearl Pathways, 29 W. McCarty St., has 17 full-time employees and more than 20 active contractors.
A price for the acquisition, which closed Nov. 1, was undisclosed. Pearl will continue to operate under its own name, at least for now.
“Pearl Pathways brings deep expertise in life science product development, which ultimately leads to getting life-saving devices, diagnostics, and therapeutics to patients faster,” said Versiti President and CEO Chris Miskel in written remarks. “This strategic collaboration not only enriches the scope and diversity of our research-based solutions from Versiti Clinical Trials, but also bolsters our spectrum of capabilities to support curing diseases sooner.”
Miskel is a 1996 Butler University graduate and on the school’s board of trustees.
Versiti said Pearl Pathways will help it “serve clinical trials sponsors earlier and with more depth in the development pathway while continuing to provide services through regulatory approval and commercialization.”
Versiti, which has has more than 2,300 employees at locations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin, is an alliance of independent blood providers. It operates blood donation centers and provides research, clinical care and diagnostic testing.
“The Pearl Pathways team is delighted to become part of Versiti,” Bowker said in written remarks. “Versiti has a multi-decade history of supporting basic and translational research to improve patient care. Pearl and Versiti will collaborate to speed the next generation of therapies and devices.”
Versiti already has some operations on central Indiana. In 2019, the Indiana Blood Center became the Versiti Blood Center of Indiana.
In July, Versiti acquired Fishers-based Quantigen LLC, a contract research company with 46 employees that develops diagnostic tests and medical devices for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
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