LONDON: hVIVO plc, a London-based clinical development partner and leader in human challenge trials, announced Thursday it has acquired CRS Clinical Research Services Berlin GmbH, a specialist Phase I/II clinical research unit, in a deal structured to preserve cash while expanding into high-growth therapeutic areas.
The acquisition, which includes nominal upfront consideration of €25,000 and a three-year revenue-based earnout, is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings and contribute positively to hVIVO’s revenue and EBITDA for fiscal year 2026, the company said.
Under the earnout agreement, hVIVO will pay 18% of CRS Berlin’s annual revenue over the next three years, with expected aggregate payments of approximately €6 million. After deducting an acquired pension liability of roughly €2 million, net payments to vendors are projected at about €4 million. All earnout payments are contingent on CRS Berlin meeting minimum revenue thresholds.
CRS Berlin, which operates a 32-bed facility including 18 intensive monitoring beds, specializes in dermatology and women’s health trials — areas the company said are attracting increasing pharmaceutical investment.
The global dermatology CRO market is valued at approximately $6.1 billion in 2026 and is projected to reach $9.7 billion by 2034, while the women’s health clinical trials market is estimated at $9.9 billion and forecast to grow to $22.3 billion by 2036, according to hVIVO.
The Berlin unit has completed more than 350 studies to date and maintains long-standing relationships with two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. It reported unaudited EBITDA of €0.3 million on revenue of €10 million in 2025, with net assets of €0.1 million as of Dec. 31, 2025. The company’s orderbook stood at approximately €10 million as of June 30, 2026, providing strong revenue visibility through 2027.
The acquisition builds on hVIVO’s existing German operations, which expanded in January 2025 with the acquisition of CRS Mannheim and CRS Kiel. hVIVO said the Berlin facility already shares aligned participant recruitment, quality assurance, sales, marketing and IT infrastructure with its other German sites. Approximately 50% of CRS Berlin’s request for proposals are now submitted jointly with Mannheim, the company said.
“Dermatology and women’s health are large and strategically attractive areas of drug development, and CRS Berlin brings us specialist capabilities in both,” said Yamin “Mo” Khan, chief executive officer of hVIVO. “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.”
Dr. Sybille Baumann, medical director of CRS Berlin, who is board-certified in anesthesiology and pharmacology and has co-authored landmark COVID-19 vaccine publications in *Nature* and the *New England Journal of Medicine*, will continue to lead the unit.
“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,” Baumann said.
The acquisition is expected to strengthen hVIVO’s multi-site clinical trial capacity across the U.K. and Germany and expand its addressable market beyond its existing expertise in infectious disease, respiratory, cardiometabolic and immunology.
hVIVO said the transaction reflects a disciplined approach to capital allocation, with the deal expected to be self-funding through CRS Berlin’s contracted orderbook and projected revenues. The company trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker HVO.
