FairJourney Biologics Acquires Charles River Laboratories South San Francisco Facility

Posted: 10 Mar 2025
  • Acquisition of Charles River site, previously Distributed Bio, strengthens antibody discovery capabilities with SuperHuman libraries and Yeast Display platform
  • Established presence in major North American biotechnology cluster extends FairJourney’s global reach

London, UK – Global Healthcare Opportunities, or GHO Capital Partners LLP (“GHO”), the European specialist investor in global healthcare, acknowledges the announcement from its portfolio company FairJourney Biologics regarding its acquisition of the South San Francisco site from Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.

FairJourney Biologics S.A., leaders in the discovery and optimisation of antibodies, announced that it had completed the acquisition of the South San Francisco site from Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. The acquisition aligns with FairJourney’s ongoing strategic growth plan, and will significantly bolster the Company’s antibody discovery and engineering capabilities, strengthening its technology portfolio and expanding its global presence with a key biotechnology hub in the US.

The acquisition of the South San Francisco site, formerly Distributed Bio, will transfer ownership of all facilities, staff and assets to FairJourney Biologics, including proprietary technologies such as the SuperHuman™, Cosmic™ and Tungsten™ libraries. By integrating these libraries within FairJourney’s own portfolio of antibody discovery technologies, the Company will offer customers a more diverse array of antibody discovery tools, and bring new antibody engineering solutions to its portfolio. Under the agreement, FairJourney will also acquire Charles Rivers’ Yeast Display method, allowing the Company to offer an expanded antibody discovery platform that can complement and enhance existing offerings.

South San Francisco hosts one of the world’s largest biotech clusters. Establishing facilities in this region forms a core part of the Company’s ongoing development strategy, strengthening its reach and physical presence in a major global market. The acquisition will provide customers in this region with a localised source of expertise and technical support, helping them to accelerate their antibody discovery and engineering pipelines. The deal will also enable FairJourney to leverage the industry-leading scientific expertise of the South San Francisco team, promoting new opportunities for collaborative projects, both internally and with leading global biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

We’re pleased to announce this strategic acquisition that will bring the exceptional team at Charles River’s South San Francisco site, as well as their cutting-edge technologies, into FairJourney. Said António Parada, CEO, FairJourney Biologics. He continued: “By combining our expertise, we not only strengthen our portfolio with powerful solutions such as the SuperHuman Libraries, but also enhance our ability to deliver innovative solutions to our partners. Working together, we can push the boundaries of antibody discovery and set new industry standards.

About GHO Capital:
Global Healthcare Opportunities, or GHO Capital Partners LLP, is a leading specialist healthcare investment advisor based in London. GHO Capital applies global capabilities and perspectives to unlock high growth healthcare opportunities, targeting Pan-European and transatlantic internationalisation to build market leading businesses of strategic global value. GHO Capital’s proven investment track record reflects the unrivalled depth of our industry expertise and network. GHO Capital partners with strong management teams to generate long-term sustainable value, improving the efficiency of healthcare delivery to enable better, faster, more accessible healthcare. For further information, please visit www.ghocapital.com.

 

About FairJourney Biologics
FairJourney Biologics is a leading biologics CRO, providing integrated services across antibody discovery, engineering and production to global biopharma. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Porto, FairJourney has grown to over 90 highly technically skilled employees today. The Company operates a flexible, customer-oriented ‘one-stop shop’ approach to biologics development focused on quality, reliability and partnership. FairJourney has successfully completed more than 460 projects for over 70 customers across big pharma and leading biotech companies to date. The Company’s significant expertise in phage display technology, combined with a diverse approach to generating both immune and naïve antibody libraries have contributed to a market leading 99%+ project success rate. For further information, please visit www.fjb.pt.