August 5, 2020 (Boston, MA) – Covington Associates, a leading middle market investment bank announced its role as exclusive financial advisor to Ce3, Inc. in its merger with Catalyst Clinical Research. The combined company is strongly positioned to deliver oncology clinical development services to the biotechnology industry, as Ce3 has provided such services for more than 15 years. Catalyst’s multi-therapeutic functional and resourcing solutions will continue to be offered via separate, dedicated management teams.

This union creates a market-leading oncology CRO solution with a particular expertise working with biotech sponsors on complex cancer therapies and study designs. Ce3’s therapeutic and market concentration complements Catalyst’s recent focus in full-service oncology while retaining its comprehensive, flexible, and multi-therapeutic functional and resourcing solutions. The combined entity, headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, will benefit from a Northeast presence, with its office in Clinton, Connecticut.

Together the companies will support oncology studies from First in Human (FIH) to accelerated approval derived from a 15-year history as trusted partners to the biopharmaceutical industry. The merger allows clients to easily draw on the combined expertise of the two legacy organizations that share a common culture and vision focused on high-quality services, expert study teams, scientific innovation, and ground-breaking technology capabilities.

Catalyst Chief Executive Officer, Nick Dyer, states, “We are thrilled to achieve this exciting milestone, allowing us to offer our clients deeper oncology expertise and a combined scientific strength in oncology. The vision and expertise of Ce3 align perfectly with our mission, experience, and therapeutic focus. Working together with an organization that shares our values and approach to advancing therapies will be an honor.”

Ce3’s Co-founders, Holly Coulter and Tim Garrelts noted that this partnership reinforces their commitment to being a premier provider of early phase oncology clinical development services, adding that the newly merged company will provide a powerful combination of proven oncology capabilities and development solutions for the biotechnology industry. The two are especially excited to leverage Catalyst’s additional technology offerings, geographic footprint, and global network of clinical research professionals.

Covington Associates served as financial advisor and Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP served as legal advisor to Ce3. Smith Anderson served as the legal advisor to Catalyst & NovaQuest Capital Management, LLC. Woodforest National Bank is providing debt financing for the transaction.

About Covington Associates

Covington Associates is an investment banking firm offering advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”), capital raising and strategic advisory to middle-market companies across the Healthcare, Business Services, Consumer & Industrial, and Technology verticals.  Founded in 1991 and based in Boston, the vision for Covington has been to provide clients with the highest caliber of senior-level attention and to remain an advice driven and results focused organization.  Since its inception, Covington Associates has completed over 250 transactions globally for both private and publicly traded companies totaling over $17 billion. Further information can be found at http://www.covingtonassociates.com/overview/.

About Ce3

Ce3, Inc. is a full-service CRO focused on providing early phase oncology clinical development services to the biotechnology industry. The company’s therapeutic concentration is oncology, with a focus on novel modalities including immuno-oncology, cell and gene therapies. Since its inception in 2005, Ce3 has concentrated on thoroughly understanding the needs of biotechnology companies while providing high-quality, cost-effective solutions to support their clients’ analytical, regulatory, and investor goals. Further information can be found at http://ce3inc.com/.

About Catalyst

Catalyst is a clinical development organization providing highly customizable clinical research solutions to the global biopharmaceutical industry. With offices in the US and EU, the company provides global resourcing solutions, functional and full-service managed solutions, the latter with a focus on oncology therapeutics. Catalyst’s service model is built from more than a decade of listening to customers, devising customer-centric solutions and helping them drive breakthrough clinical development studies leveraging Catalyst’s expert teams and innovative technologies.

Catalyst is a portfolio company of NovaQuest Capital Management, LLC, a leading healthcare and life sciences investment firm.