PPD buys remaining interest in firm it has owned since 2010

Wilmington-based PPD, which has a large presence in the Triangle, on Thursday bought the remaining minority interest in a Massachusetts firm which it originally acquired in 2010.

The life science firm said it exercised an option to acquire the rest of X-Chem shares.

X-Chem is based in Waltham, Mass.

PPD needed to exercise the ownership option before Oct. 31.

“Four years ago, PPD made a strategic decision to invest in X-Chem, based on their highly innovative drug discovery engine,” David Simmons, chairman and chief executive officer of PPD said. “X-Chem has demonstrated the value of its technology through establishment of an increasing number of relationships with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, along with academic centers. Through these relationships, X-Chem has emerged as one of the top small molecule drug discovery companies in the biotechnology industry. We look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Wagner and the entire X-Chem team to advance the technology and drive value for our biopharmaceutical partners.”

X-Checm clients include Roche, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Pfizer and two other large firms that were not identified.

Financial terms were not disclosed.