WCG Guns for a $100M IPO Amid a Boon in the CRO Sector as it Recovers from COVID Chaos

The contract research sector has seen major buyouts and a series of bolt-on deals, and clinical research specialist WCG is the latest to get in on the act as it heads to Wall Street.

The nine-year old Princeton, New Jersey-based company, which offers trial help to biopharmas and CROs, made around $500 million last year and is looking for a post-pandemic push, seeking out a $100 million IPO (but don’t be surprised if that gets bumped up) on the Nasdaq under the ticker “WCGC.”

This comes after several acquisitive years for WCG, which included it buying out trial consultancy firm Waife & Associates a year back to boost its clinical management services, having before snapped up PharmaSeek, which specializes in consulting, patient recruitment and training for clinical research sites, all with a focus on reducing timelines for studies.

And in April last year, it bought up Analgesic Solutions, which looks to improve the quality of clinical trials in pain management and itself came a few months after WCG’s purchase of First Clinical Research, organizer of the MAGI (Model Agreements & Guidelines International) Clinical Research Conference.

Late last year, it also snapped up clinical trial solutions firm Trifecta Clinical, adding its communication platform, known as InvestigatorSpace, as well as its virtual training programs and safety documentation services to the firm’s offerings.

This also comes after some mega mergers in the CRO space this year, including Thermo Fisher’s $17.4 billion deal for PPD and Icon’s $12 billion buyout of rival PRA Health.