The latest insights on M&A activity in life sciences commercial vendors

As part of our LINX bio-pharma vendor review, Zensights is pleased to share an update on merger activity to help our clients understand the market activity that may impact their supplier relationships.

Key M&A highlights in Q2 2025

✓ Merger activity into the middle of the year continues within the normal quarterly range that we’ve observed over the past few years. Historically, we typically observe six to eight acquisitions each quarter, and we identified eight acquisitions during the second quarter. This volume is identical to Q1. There is no evidence in the activity that political and economic uncertainty is influencing the volume of M&A activity.

✓ Multiple acquisitions in the quarter were the ongoing refreshes and reconfiguration of offerings by strategy/technology consulting firms and marketing agencies. Over the past year or two, we have seen an ongoing stream of acquisitions aimed at evolving offerings to meet client needs, with firms expanding client support for market access, patient support programs, and overall capability to support clients with strategy formulation.

✓ There were fewer acquisitions that mentioned AI implementation and deployment as the justification, and we observe that AI-powered offerings seem to have become the “new normal.” It appears that AI is becoming an expected table stake for product offerings, no longer a rare or unique benefit or feature.

✓ There were multiple acquisitions of advanced manufacturing capabilities, which is more than the usual activity. While both were US acquirers purchasing firms in Europe, it’s not yet obvious whether the acquisitions in Q2 were tariff-related, with firms reconfiguring manufacturing to align it with demand. Going forward, we’ll be monitoring M&A activity to assess how the current political and economic uncertainty is impacting deals.

✓ The role of Private Equity-funded deals, either by PE firms themselves or PE-backed acquirers, continued in the quarter, with the deals split between PE-backed firms and other funding/acquirer structures.

2025 Q2 Activity highlights

In the second quarter of 2025, M&A activity continued into the new year, with eight deals identified in the markets we monitor for our clients. The following M&A deals were identified:

 1. Artis BioSolutions acquires Landmark Bio (April 2025)

Artis BioSolutions, a company founded to streamline the discovery, development, and production of genetic medicines, announced both its launch and its acquisition of Landmark Bio. Landmark Bio is a cell and gene therapy manufacturing company specializing in translational research, process development, and manufacturing technologies. Landmark Bio will continue to operate as a distinct entity within Artis, focused on accelerating therapeutic development from preclinical through commercialization.

The company explained that complex genetic medicines are the fastest-growing therapeutic category; however, there is a shortage of high-quality service providers to support drug development in this space. They maintain that Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) that truly understand the development, scaling, and regulatory hurdles of advanced therapies are often difficult to access, particularly for companies and researchers working in discovery and early-phase development. Landmark Bio, founded by leaders from industry, academia, and leading research hospitals from the greater Boston area, has developed significant scientific and technical capabilities that aim to remove bottlenecks and increase speed-to-clinic for developers of advanced therapies. Since 2021, Landmark Bio has delivered numerous successes for its partners, enabling the advancement of complex cell and gene therapies from bench to clinic.

With the acquisition of Landmark Bio, Artis BioSolutions has positioned itself as a premier CDMO for advanced therapy developers looking for end-to-end capabilities within the underserved and fast-growing category of advanced therapies. From critical materials to technologies and manufacturing experience, Artis plans to support multiple modalities and enable shorter project timelines, lower manufacturing costs, high product quality, efficient supply chain management, and provide superior customer experience.

 2. Fingerpaint acquires BlackPoint Consulting Group (April 2025)

Fingerpaint Group, supported by its investment partner Knox Lane, announced the acquisition of BlackPoint Consulting Group, a specialized New York City–based advisory firm serving healthcare and life sciences companies. This acquisition is the next in an acquisition-based expansion that has expanded its roster of capabilities, customers, and talent. The addition of BlackPoint expands Fingerpaint Group’s existing offerings, Fingerpaint Market Access and The MYND Group, and the firm will establish a comprehensive suite of capabilities to address the full spectrum of access and patient support challenges life science companies typically face.

BlackPoint Consulting Group has a senior leadership team and supports more than half of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies. With a strong foundation in management consulting, commercial compliance, and operational excellence, BlackPoint brings strategic expertise to Fingerpaint Group’s already robust portfolio of solutions. 

3. WPP acquires InfoSum (April 2025)

WPP announced the acquisition of InfoSum, a data collaboration platform. InfoSum will join GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, to power the creation of a new generation of AI-enhanced marketing solutions for clients, delivered through the organization’s powerful and secure data infrastructure. The acquisition advances WPP’s AI-driven data offer, transforming the breadth and scale of data intelligence for WPP clients and leapfrogging traditional identity-based solutions.

The new capability allows WPP’s clients to maximize the value of their first-party data with privacy-enhancing connections to data providers and media partners, powering campaigns across the entire marketing ecosystem. InfoSum’s patented cross-cloud data collaboration technology radically transforms the way companies generate audience intelligence by making it possible to connect data sources across the marketing ecosystem without moving or exposing data. The company explained that by integrating InfoSum’s capabilities with WPP Open, WPP’s intelligent marketing operating system, WPP clients can unlock the full potential of their customer data, enriched through advanced AI, safely.

4. Lockwood Group acquires IDEOlogy Health (April 2025)

The Lockwood Group, a US-based medical education company, acquired IDEOlogy Health to boost its data-driven medical communication services for life science brands. The company reported that the deal also boosts the Stamford, Connecticut-based pharma services organization’s growth in the rare disease and oncology sectors, the latter of which accounts for half of the firm’s business. Despite macroeconomic and political uncertainties, the company explained that they are optimistic about the potential of oncology due to its high-science nature and ongoing medical breakthroughs.

IDEOlogy Health’s value proposition is based on its proprietary non-promotional educational solutions as well as its unique, exclusive relationships in oncology, which give the organization access to community oncology patients and practices. In addition to its multichannel work with oncology partner brands, IDEOlogy Health also hosts multiple medical congresses, including the Texas Lung Cancer Conference, World Conference on Genitourinary Cancers, and the Nashville Hematology Conference.

5. Sarga Associates acquired by IQVIA (May 2025)

Sarga Associates, with staff in the UK and the US, was acquired by IQVIA. Sarga is a specialized consulting group providing strategy and forecasting services within the pharmaceutical sector. IQVIA didn’t publicly announce the strategic purpose of the deal. 

6. Great Point Partners Acquires majority stake of Eutecma (June 2025)

Great Point Partners, a US-based private investment firm focused exclusively on the health care industry, announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Eutecma, a German-based developer of sustainable, modular, and reusable temperature-controlled packaging solutions for pharmaceutical cold chain shipments. Eutecma produces passive cooling systems that make transport and logistics more sustainable and efficient. 

Eutecma reports that its patented ICECATCH® cooling systems are a top choice among pharmaceutical, medical, and laboratory diagnostics businesses. Eutecma has developed a circular system for its packaging materials, supported by an extensive network of Refreshment Centers. The firm’s process ensures materials remain in circulation for as long as possible, while reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and provides real-time CO2 reduction data to clients.

7. MERGE acquires consulting firm Blazer (June 2025)

MERGE, a marketing and technology agency, announced it has acquired Blazer, a strategic consulting firm, as part of its ongoing growth trajectory and expansion of service offerings. The integrated offerings, including Blazer’s consulting expertise and MERGE’s creative and technology strengths, are being combined to help clients with a range of support from strategic planning and data analytics to digital experience design and go-to-market execution. The business plans to extend MERGE’s full suite of capabilities with Blazer’s business expertise, co-creating comprehensive blueprints with clients to blend smart strategy with the creative and technical execution required for meaningful results. 

Blazer, previously Brooks Bell, has been guiding clients with their marketing and digital strategies for over two decades and was a trailblazer in bringing the scientific principles of A/B testing and optimization to the field. This history, combined with MERGE’s ability to build tailored solutions rooted in real-world business impact, will allow the dedicated team to respond to the complex, integrated needs of today’s brands.

8. Particle Dynamics acquires EUROAPI UK (June 2025)

Particle Dynamics, a US-based supplier of particle processing and delivery technologies, has acquired EUROAPI UK, an operator of a commercial spray drying facility in Haverhill, UK. The business reports that the acquisition strengthens Particle Dynamics’ position as a global CDMO and adds significant spray drying expertise and capacity. Particle Dynamics plans to invest in additional capabilities and talent, positioning the site to serve both clinical and commercial-scale demand for improved bioavailability, solubility, and stability of therapeutic compounds.