"Our ambitions are great. We are working on changing the clinical practice in the largest established screening market in oncology with our diagnostic products. Wellington believed in our plan and management team, and they are very supportive."
Bob Silverman
CEO, mtm laboratories
Wellington contact:
Rainer Strohmenger
| Conquering the global market with the means of a start-up |
mtm laboratories is a certified developer and manufacturer of In-Vitro Diagnostics for the early diagnosis of cervic cancer, the second most frequent cancer disease in women. Cervical cancer screening represents the largest screening market in oncology with more than 140 million Pap tests being performed every year in the developed countries.
mtm was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from the German Centre for Cancer Research, Heidelberg, headed by Nobel laureate Prof. Harald zur Hausen. Wellington Partners invested in the young company for the first time in autumn 2003. At this stage, mtm was working on the initial clinical validation of their first products based on mtm’s proprietary biomarker p16, a protein which was already considered the most promising single biomarker in cervical cancer detection. In the subsequent years, the company broadly validated p16 in clinical studies involving more than 40,000 patients. This enabled the successful launch of several diagnostic products for use in fields like pathology and cytology in Europe, the US, and Asia.
Wellington Partners supported the team in many ways: At an early stage, Wellington’s network was crucial in establishing an appropriate development and business strategy and further building the company structure. Later on, we supported the company by providing contacts to potential strategic partners and by raising sufficient financing - even in a highly challenging market environment - to execute the product launches.
In 2011, mtm laboratories has developed into a company operating on a global basis, with headquarters in Germany and subsidiaries in the US, France, Italy, and Spain. The success of the innovative products got the attention of large healthcare companies. In July 2011, diagnostics market leader, Roche, announced the acquisition of the entire company for up to € 190 million, because mtm’s products were considered a perfect fit for expanding its offering in cervical cancer testing. For Wellington Partners, this acquisition represents one of the investor’s most successful exits in the Life Sciences sector.
