Alacrita Aggregates the Life Science Practices of Two Consulting Firms and Appoints Simon Turner Ph.D FRSC as Partner

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, and LONDON, May 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Alacrita, the transatlantic life sciences consulting firm, has aggregated the life science practices of two consulting firms and appointed Simon Turner PhD FRSC as Partner. Alacrita is taking on the business of Canopus, a specialist life science consulting firm founded by Dr. Turner, which recently acquired the life sciences consulting business of Transentia, which focussed on the commercialisation of early-stage technology.

The move consolidates Alacrita's position as a leading life science consulting firm and expands the firm's partnership to more effectively serve its growing roster of transatlantic clients. Simon has over two decades of experience managing and advising on strategic and product development issues in the life science industry. Over the past ten years, Simon has focused on commercialisation of life science technologies as entrepreneur, executive, venture capital investor and advisor. In 2000, Simon became Chief Executive of Biotica Technology, a venture-capital backed drug-discovery company, which he led for five years. He has since been involved as investor and advisor to biotechnology companies in two investment firms and more recently through Canopus. He gained extensive  strategic management consulting experience in life sciences whilst working at Arthur D Little and Andersen Consulting.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Simon Turner said "I am delighted to be joining Alacrita at an exciting stage in its evolution. There are tremendous synergies between our two businesses, in particular, Alacrita's focus on expertise-based consulting through its network of senior consultants with deep expertise and many years of industry experience. Alacrita has consistently demonstrated its ability to deliver real value to sophisticated life science companies and investors who have needed to supplement their internal capability. I look forward to serving the firm's expanding base of clients and building the business into a top tier consulting firm."

Rob Johnson, Partner at Alacrita, said: "We are delighted to welcome Simon to the Alacrita partnership. He is a very experienced management consultant and his strategic insight is rooted in reality, having first-hand experience of leading a biotech company as CEO of Biotica. He has deep and broad technological knowledge of the life science industry and a sound understanding of the challenges faced by senior management. His appointment represents an exciting development for our business and underlines our commitment to providing exceptionally high quality advice to the industry."

Anthony Walker, Partner at Alacrita, added: "Alacrita's consulting practice has been growing on both sides of the Atlantic, and Simon joining the partnership reinforces our capacity to grow further. On a personal note, I have known and worked with Simon at various times over many years, and it is a real pleasure to welcome him to Alacrita."

Notes to Editors

About Alacrita

Alacrita is a rapidly growing management consulting firm providing expertise-based services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and life science sectors. The firm is supported by an unrivalled network of experts who operate across the spectrum of life sciences. They combine extensive international industry experience (strategic, technical and commercial), broad functional capabilities and a track record of success across the industry.

Since inception, Alacrita has completed successful consulting projects for big pharma, biotech companies, life science investors, academia and government bodies. Alacrita operates out of offices in London UK and Cambridge MA, USA.

Alacrita UK:
London BioScience Innovation Centre
2 Royal College Street
London, NW1 0NH
Tel: +44-207-691-4915
http://www.alacritaconsulting.com

Alacrita US:
One Broadway, 14th floor
Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02142
Tel: +1-617-758-4119

For further information, please contact:

Rob Johnson or Anthony Walker at Alacrita
+1-781-249-3324 or +44-771-3402-771