Novotech, an Australia-based independent CRO, received a funding injection from private equity firm Mercury Capital.

"Novotech is focused on the fast-growing Asia region,” said Alek Safarian, CEO of Novotech. “We are already active in 10 countries in the region on behalf of our biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. This investment will further accelerate our expansion plans." 

Mercury Capital, founded by former Goldman Sachs managing director Clark Perkins, acquired a 30% stake in Novotech and has the option to increase this to 50% at a later date.

"We're excited by the organic growth opportunities in Australia and Asia, and acquisition opportunities in the latter," Perkins told The Wall Street Journal in a recent interview. “There's a strong trend of major pharmaceutical companies outsourcing, which has led to underlying annual compound growth in the market of between 5% and 10%. Novotech is growing much faster than this.”

Novotech works currently manages around 70 trials across a wide range of therapeutic areas including oncology and cardiovascular disease. Novotech has offices in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea, has been instrumental in the success of hundreds of phase I-IV clinical trials.