PCI Pharma Services (PCI) has acquired San Diego-based Sherpa Clinical Packaging, which ex-pands PCI’s U.S. operations to the West Coast. The acquisition strengthens PCI’s position in outsourced clinical trial support services. The addition of Sherpa’s capabilities also enables PCI to better support customers from early phases of clinical development through to commercial launch.

Sherpa was founded in 2010 by Mark Paiz who identified the need for a clinical packaging ser-vices provider for the biopharmaceutical hubs on the West Coast. Sherpa’s core services include primary and secondary packaging and labeling for Phase I-IV studies, distribution, storage and returns. Sherpa’s state-of-the art facilities employ the latest cold chain technologies that in-clude handling products requiring labeling and kitting at frozen and refrigerated conditions.

Sherpa is recognized for offering reliable, high quality, fast, and flexible clinical supply services for West Coast-based and global customers. Bill Mitchell, executive vice chairman, PCI said, “Mark and the team at Sherpa have done an excellent job of building a customer-centric organ-ization with a strong service reputation. Their dedication parallels our own commitment to provide the industry-leading customer experience, which makes them a natural fit for PCI.”

Salim Haffar, PCI’s newly appointed chief executive officer, said, “I am delighted to join PCI during this period of rapid expansion and strategic investment which will allow PCI to better partner with our biopharma customers. The acquisition of Sherpa is the next logical step in our Clinical Services expansion strategy, further enhancing our development-stage capabilities and geographic presence.”

Mark Paiz, founder and chief executive officer, Sherpa, said, “Sherpa’s success is due in large part to our commitment to deliver customers the highest levels of service, quality and reliabil-ity. I strongly believe PCI will continue to build on our success as well as enhance Sherpa with its global network and market-leading reputation.”