Today, MatTek CEO Alex Armento and Visikol CEO Dr. Michael Johnson, announced a commercial integration. Previously, both MatTek and Visikol had been acquired in the first half of 2021 by CELLINK (later renamed BICO) as well as the assets of HUREL which had been incorporated into Visikol. The two companies are both highly focused on advanced cell culture models and assays where Visikol primarily operates as a contract research services business and MatTek operates predominantly as a products-based company. Together, the two companies have the largest offering of advanced cell culture models and services in the marketplace and are helping to shape the future of microphysiological systems.
While both companies operated independently as part of BICO up to this point, there are a multitude of synergies that can be realized by combining the two entities.
“We have been working closely with MatTek prior to both of our acquisitions and we saw this commercial integration as a natural fit to both more easily work together and also to share best practices and resources such that together we can have a more efficient and higher growth company,” said Visikol CEO, Dr. Michael Johnson.
As the two companies combine expertise and resources, the Visikol brand will be maintained and both companies will continue to operate as they have. However, the companies’ core general administrative functions such as finance, marketing, sales, and human resources will be combined resulting in significant gains in efficiency. After the integration, the MatTek team will have over 100 employees on sites that include Hampton, NJ, Ashland, MA, and Bratislava, Slovakia.
“Our goal as a company has always been to reduce the usage of animals and to help accelerate the discovery and development of new therapeutics and teaming up more formally with the Visikol team allows us to better achieve this mission,” said MatTek CEO, Alex Armento.Â
Following the integration, Visikol CEO Dr. Johnson will take on the role of Chief Commercial Officer for MatTek and will oversee the commercial efforts of MatTek and the legacy Visikol business while still overseeing the general operations of the Hampton, NJ site that houses the Visikol services and products.
About MatTek
MatTek was founded in 1985 and began producing human tissue models as reliable replacements for animal testing. MatTek’s skin, ocular, oral, respiratory, and intestinal tissue models are used to assess safety and efficacy throughout the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, personal care, and household product industries. These advanced tissue models empower companies to achieve their goals of non-animal testing while lowering testing costs and providing human-relevant results. The company has expanded its offerings to include cultureware, primary human cells and media, and testing services in support of its mission to advance innovative in vitro science through the production of synergistic life science products and services. www.mattek.com
About Visikol
Visikol is a contract research services company that is focused on accelerating drug discovery and development through the use of its imaging, digital pathology, and advanced cell culture assay services. The company provides end-to-end preclinical services that include both 2D and 3D in vitro models and assays, 3D whole-mount tissue imaging, multiplex imaging, high-content imaging, digital pathology, and custom drug discovery solutions. Visikol’s expertise is in transforming tissues and cells into large image-based data sets that can be mined for actionable insights such that pharmaceutical and biotech companies can make more quantitative and informed decisions during the drug development process. Additionally, Visikol manufactures and sells a suite of tissue-clearing reagents and 3D immuno-labeling kits. These products allow researchers to easily and rapidly image whole tissues and 3D cell culture models in 3D instead of traditional 2D sectioning. For more information about Visikol or its services, please visit www.visikol.com
