The purchase of Syntactx reinforces NAMSA’s position as the world’s leading one-stop shop for complex, outsourced medical device testing.

January 5, 2021 – NAMSA, a portfolio company of global private equity healthcare specialist ARCHIMED, announces the 100 percent purchase of Syntactx. NAMSA and Syntactx are contract research organizations, offering outsourced services for clinical trials and healthcare-related testing.

Toledo, Ohio-based NAMSA is the only CRO in the world focused exclusively on end-to-end services for medical devices, offering consulting, testing and complete project management through every development stage, from conception to global regulatory approval and commercialization. Syntactx, based in New York City, is a leader in electronic data capture and a specialist in analyzing and synthesizing the diverse, non-uniform elements of complex global clinical trials for medical devices. Syntactx also has a robust cardiovascular-focused regulatory consulting and clinical research practice that complements NAMSA’s leading position in this sector.

“Syntactx’s services and technology, its corporate values and ethics, offer a seamless fit with us,” says John Gorski, NAMSA President and CEO. “Most importantly, combining NAMSA’s global leadership with Syntactx’s cutting edge technology is a means to proactively help our clients achieve commercial success and positively impact patient’s lives.” Syntactx’s purchase comes in the context of growing regulatory oversight for medical device testing, which is putting a premium on CROs with complex, comprehensive capacities. The European Union, for example, is implementing new, stringent medical device testing regulations in May.

ARCHIMED’s midcap-focused fund, MED Platform I, acquired a majority stake in NAMSA in September. NAMSA is currently one of three MPI platform companies – firms that the fund is growing principally through multiple, ambitious buy-and-build acquisitions (e.g. NAMSA’s purchase of Syntactx), while targeting organic growth that is above industry averages. MPI buys majority stakes in platform companies in Europe and the U.S. for €50 million to €500 million in association with existing owners and managers. Closing on €1 billion in September, MPI is the largest healthcare fund ever raised by a European-headquartered firm, according to data from Preqin.

“We combine financial power, industry expertise and an extensive global network of healthcare connections to provide partners with the strategic, tactical and financial resources they need to fulfill their ambitions,” says ARCHIMED Chairman Denis Ribon. ARCHIMED’s New York office – which Ribon opened in September as a complement to its Lyon, France headquarters – played a key role in the Syntactx acquisition.

As part of the deal’s structure, Syntactx’s existing owners and management have a significant equity stake in NAMSA. “The acquisition puts the adventure of growing this company on an even more exhilarating scale,” says Dr. Kenneth Ouriel, President and CEO of Syntactx. “Together with NAMSA and ARCHIMED we’ll have resources to offer an unprecedented range of services and an unrivalled level of quality to clients.”