AAA acquires 100% share of UK nuclear medicine company

Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), a major molecular medicine company based in Bourg en Bresse, France, announced Mar. 4 that the firm had acquired 100 percent of shares of the privately held U.K.-based Imaging Equipment, a distributor of nuclear medicine technologies and radiopharmaceuticals across the U.K. and Ireland.

The agreement allows AAA full rights to Imaging Equipment’s SPECT radiopharmaceutical, IELMAG3, which is used with SPECT systems to image the urinary tract and kidneys.

The transaction also represents an opportunity for the company to break into U.K. and Irish markets, where nuclear medicine sales are comparatively strong. Imaging Equipment founders and executives now hold shares in AAA, as well. 

“The acquisition of IEL is in line with our strategy to further expand and strengthen our position in Europe,” remarked AAA chief executive officer, Stefano Buono. "The UK and Ireland are important markets for both our existing and future products. IEL's specialist expertise and strong presence in these markets is a complementary fit with AAA's business and we look forward to working with their management team to drive the integration and growth in 2014."

Imaging Equipment specializing in molecular pre-clinical and clinical imaging and is the sole distributor of AAA’s Cardiogen, a PET myocardial perfusion agent, and LuDOTATATE , an up-and-coming investigational oncology theragnostic agent.