hVIVO buys CRS Berlin as expands into dermatology and women's health

hVIVO PLC on Thursday announced the acquisition of a clinical research unit to expand its expertise into dermatology and women's health markets.

The London-based contract research organisation testing vaccines for infectious and respiratory diseases said it is buying CRS Clinical Research Services Berlin GmbH, known as CRS Berlin.

CRS Berlin is a specialist phase 1/2 clinical research unit with an established revenue base, hVIVO said, alongside multiple pharma relationships and a "strong" order book.

hVIVO expects the acquisition to be immediately earnings-accretive and to contribute positively to its revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2026.

hVIVO said the upfront payment is just EUR25,000, with all earnout payments depending on CRS Berlin's future revenue performance.

For 2025, CRS Berlin had reported Ebitda of EUR300,000 and revenue of EUR10 million.

hVIVO noted that CRS Berlin had an order book of around EUR10 million as at June 30, adding that this provided "a very high level of revenue visibility over its forecast 2026 revenue and including orders scheduled for delivery in 2027."

CRS Berlin has 32 beds, including 18 intensive monitoring beds, and focuses on dermatology and women's health trials.

hVIVO said: "The acquisition marks a further step in hVIVO's strategy to build a wholly owned international clinical network in primary care indications, adding specialist capabilities in dermatology and women's health.

"CRS Berlin is a natural fit with hVIVO's existing German operations, with established alignment across participant recruitment, back-office support and operational processes."

hVIVO Chief Executive Officer Yamin Khan said: "Dermatology and women's health are large and strategically attractive areas of drug development, and CRS Berlin brings us specialist capabilities in both. These specialisms meaningfully broaden hVIVO's addressable market and complement our existing expertise.

"The transaction terms reflect our disciplined approach to capital allocation, with the acquisition expected to be self-funding, supported by the business's contracted orderbook and expected revenues. With earnout payments dependent on CRS Berlin's revenue performance, we are acquiring a profitable, well-regarded business with long-term relationships with pharma and biotech partners on attractive terms."

Sybille Baumann, medical director of CRS Berlin, said: "We see a significant opportunity to scale this expertise as part of hVIVO's international platform, while continuing to support clients with the specialist site capabilities which they value.

"Having worked closely with hVIVO's existing CRS network for some time, and with alignment already in place across quality, project management, participant recruitment and operational processes, this is a logical next step for CRS Berlin, our clients and our team."

hVIVO shares rose 2.0% to 6.53 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London.

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