Crown Bioscience of Santa Clara, Calif., a global drug discovery and development service company, has acquired the shares of U.K.-based Preclinical Oncology Services Limited (PRECOS), a preclinical R&D service provider with a specific focus on oncology.

CrownBio said the acquisition makes it the world’s only CRO that offers such a comprehensive range of services, and the largest supplier of oncology services with a footprint spanning three major continents—North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

CrownBio provides unique translational platforms and cost-effective drug discovery solutions in oncology and metabolic disease. In addition to California, It has research facilities in Kannapolis, N.C., Beijing and Taicang (China.) Founded in 2006, CrownBio also has business offices in Boston, Princeton, Research Triangle Park (N.C.), Phoenix, Milan and Shanghai.

PRECOS is a pre-clinical CRO focused on providing clinically relevant oncology models for drug discovery, delivering reproducible, patient-relevant in vivo and in vitro oncology models. PRECOS, an acronym of Pre-Clinical Oncology Services, officially launched in 2004 as a specialist business unit of the University of Nottingham and in 2010 was spun out as a fully independent company.

Jean-Pierre Wery, president of CrownBio, said, “The acquisition represents the next step in expanding the range of specialized services we offer pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical customers worldwide. PRECOS has unique clinically relevant models, which reflect the patient situation for each aspect of cancer progression, encompassing pre-cancerous lesions, primary tumours and metastasis.”

PRECOS chairman Neil Rotherham said, “The acquisition of PRECOS by Crown Bioscience will enable PRECOS to continue expanding its business as part of a larger organization, giving Crown Bioscience clients access to PRECOS’s unique and growing panel of Patient-Derived Xenograft, orthotopic and metastatic modelling and imaging services. Our geographical location provides a European hub for Crown Bioscience’s rapidly expanding client base in Europe.”

Both companies will continue to honor all current service agreements and client projects.