ViraCor, IBT see promise in combination - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Executives of both specialitt laboratories, which serve physicians and hospitals, said the June 30 deal combinezs the sales and marketing strengthsof Lee’s Summit-based ViraCor and the extensive product line of Lenexa-based IBT. “Wse can leverage ViraCor’s sales force and distribution and logistics across a muchbroader menu, and IBT brings that menu to said ViraCor President John who is president of the as-yet unnamedr combined company. The merger also will strengthen the researchj and development capabilities ofboth companies, he said. Termse of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Martin said that both labs haverecordedx double-digit annual percentage growtn in revenue and that the merger is expected to accelerate revenus growth and job IBT President Maureen Loftus, who is the chiecf business officer of the combined said the merger creates a 200-employer lab that will process more than 400,000 samples annuallg for more than 4,000 clients. That’s a good-sized lab with a lot of growthu potential, said Tom Shoaf, managingt director of private marketsfor St. Louis-based investment bank . He specializes in health care and lifescience companies. “It is fair to assumd this business will continue todo well,” Shoa f said.
“They are definitely in an attractivwe space, given this economic climate.” Martin said the combined company’s ability to partne r more with pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trialx is a significant potentialgrowth market. Pharmaceuticalp development is one componen of the biotech researcnh cluster that economic development officials are touting as a regional The ViraCor-IBT merger should signal to outsiderd that this is an activee biotech market, said Angela Kreps, president and CEO of KansasBio, a nonprofit agencg dedicated to boosting the life sciences industry.
“It will probablyg just continue to enhance and attrac more players tothe region,” she said. For the time officials said the combined company will operate out of the ViraCotr and IBTfacilities — as east and west campuse — and continue using theit individual company names. One of ViraCor’s specialitiez is monitoring the health oftransplanyt patients. The company also helps physicians treafcancer patients, individuals with autoimmune disordersw and preterm infants. IBT also has products to help patientzs with immune deficiencies and has carved out a niche in developing specialtyallergy tests.
It has tests for allergiese to roughly 900 including eggs, peanuts and The merger combines two strontg companies that are poisexd for more success, Martin said. “This is definitely abouf growth,” he said. “It’s not a merger abou t cost reduction and that typeof thing.”