Prescient Healthcare acquires pharma consultancy Strategic North
UK-headquartered Prescient Healthcare Group has acquired Strategic North, a London-based pharma consultancy with around 70 employees. The move will help enhance the analysis Prescient delivers via its medical commercialisation and insights teams.
Founded in 2010, Strategic North specialises in supporting clients with the marketing and planning of new products, as well as providing customer and market insights to brands around the world. Employing 70 executives out of its offices in the UK, Strategic North works closely with global and regional marketing teams, helping companies find differentiating factors that can win market share from competitors.
The firm has been purchased by biopharma product and portfolio strategy firm, Prescient Healthcare Group. Founded in 2007, Prescient has a footprint in eight cities, across three continents. Its team of more than 350 experts partners works with 23 of the top 25 biopharmaceutical companies in the world, as well as the fastest-growing mid-caps and cutting-edge emerging biotechs, including some of the biggest and most innovative brands.
Speaking on a future as part of Prescient, Steve Padgett, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Strategic North commented, “Our core objectives for 2022 will be to effectively integrate our respective teams and cultures, expand the Strategic North capability in the US and further differentiate our core service lines by leveraging our combined capabilities.”
Central to Strategic North's exceptional brand strategy expertise is its ability to develop deep insight into the behaviours and needs of key stakeholders, including prescribers, payers, patients, providers and advocacy groups. This is a key factor in its acquisition by Prescient, which is looking to build its insights capability.
Jamie Denison-Pender, Prescient CEO, noted, "Strategic North's strengths in commercial strategy, brand strategy and stakeholder insights will add depth to Prescient's existing client partnerships. This integration supports cross-functional teams across the life cycle by helping unlock the full potential of assets from molecule through to brand and ensuring that the voices of the payer, prescriber and patient are central to business decision making."
Dealmakers
A number of a professional services firms assisted with the sale. These included Squire Patton Boggs, which was part of buy-side team advising shareholders of Prescient Healthcare Group. Head of UK Healthcare Mark Yeo and senior associate Joe Abbott in London led the Squire Patton Boggs team, which included associates Isabelle Sadler and Simon Watts-Morgan, Corporate Trainee Milena Bohn, Tax Partner Mark Simpson, Tax Senior Associate Emma Perez, Employment Partner David Whincup, Employment Associates Sean Field-Walton and Alex Kelly and Commercial and IP Associate Sam O’Neill.
Alantra was meanwhile part of sell-side team advising shareholders of Strategic North. Alantra’s Healthcare team was appointed due to its experience working with owner-managed businesses, finding strategic partners and securing investment solutions. Anthony Harrington, Partner at Alantra, led the deal, supported by Vice President Yeboah Mensah-Dika, and Associate Tunde Akinboyewa.
Harrington, stated, “The Strategic North team has built an impressive business and we are proud to have supported the company throughout this process. We know Prescient well, having advised the business twice, most recently on its investment from Bridgepoint Development Capital. We’re excited to watch Strategic North continue to grow and drive innovation in its services in partnership with Prescient.”
Other dealmakers were at the time of writing undisclosed.
