LDC invests in Panthera Biopartners to accelerate expansion

Panthera Biopartners, the UK’s largest Site Management Organisation (SMO) for commercial clinical trials, has secured investment from leading private equity investor LDC to support its expansion plans and further enhance its clinical capabilities.

Established in 2019 by co-founders Dr Ian Smith and Professor John Lyon, Panthera specialises in the recruitment of patients and running of Phase II and Phase III clinical trials.

Its service offering spans trial planning, data collection and patient retention.

Headquartered in Preston, Lancashire, the company operates six UK sites with two more planned and provides clinical trials for eight of the 12 largest pharmaceutical companies and all of the largest seven clinical research organisations (CROs).

Panthera has an outstanding market reputation due to its ability to recruit patients at speed and provide sponsors with certainty around study delivery, streamlining the route to commercialisation.

Access to a large number of Principal Investigators (PIs) across the site network enables the business to service studies across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas including vaccines, cardiovascular medicine, diabetes, neurology, respiratory medicine, dermatology, rheumatology and early dementia trials.

In 2024, Panthera was the top global recruiter in four international clinical studies and had the first patient recruited in nine trials globally or within the UK.

The transaction marks a successful exit for BGF and Gresham House Ventures.

Since their investment in 2022, the business has achieved rapid growth, with revenue increasing by more than 200 per cent.

As part of the new structure, BGF will reinvest and continue to support the business as a minority shareholder alongside LDC.

LDC is backing the existing management team, led by chief executive Stuart Young, CCO Chris Dodd, CFO Rory Lloyd, CMO Dr. Mahadev Ramjee and CIO Andy Broomhead.

Dr Ian Smith will continue to advise the company. With LDC’s support, Panthera will seek to further expand its operations in the UK and Europe, increase its number of clinical sites, invest in technology, and scale its trial delivery capabilities.

As SMOs continue to play an increasingly pivotal role in the drug development value chain, an exciting opportunity for growth exists.

The investment was led by LDC’s North West team, including partner and head of North West Dale Alderson, investment director Grant Goodwin and investment manager Alex Kirkby.

Following the transaction, Dale and Grant will join Panthera’s board as non-executive directors, alongside Mark Egerton as chairman.

Stuart Young, chief executive, Panthera, said: “We’re incredibly proud of what the team at Panthera has achieved and are excited to partner with LDC for this next phase of growth.

"Their investment will help us accelerate expansion, enhance our capabilities, and continue delivering for our clients and patients. With LDC’s support and experience, we look forward to broadening our reach into Europe and expanding access to clinical trials across new regions.”

Grant Goodwin, investment director at LDC, said: “Patient recruitment and dropout rates have historically been one of the biggest hurdles to efficient clinical trial processes and it’s this challenge that Panthera has proven it can solve.

"Stuart and his excellent team have built a trusted operation with well-established client relationships. We’re looking forward to supporting them as they pursue their growth strategy.”

Jill Williams, partner at BGF, commented: “We’re proud to have supported the Panthera team through an exceptional period of growth.

"The business has built a strong reputation in the clinical trials sector and is well positioned for continued expansion. We’re excited to reinvest and remain part of Panthera’s next phase alongside LDC.”

Maya Ward, investment director, Gresham House Ventures said: “Gresham House Ventures was Panthera’s first institutional investor and we have supported the company over several funding rounds.

"It has been a real pleasure to see Stuart and the team develop and scale the business to become one of the leading SMO providers in the UK.

"This new investment from LDC will support further global expansion and delivers a strong outcome for our investors in the Baronsmead VCTs.”

In the last decade alone, LDC has invested more than £409m into 18 healthcare companies with a combined enterprise value of £920m.

Its experience of helping management teams in the sector to grow their business extends right across the UK and includes Synexus (another clinical trial SMO), which it helped diversify and expand to the US and Europe, diagnostic imaging equipment provider Medray Group and Bullen Healthcare, the UK’s largest independent dispensing appliance contractor of stoma, urology and wound care products.

In June 2025, LDC was named Private Equity Investor of the Year at the annual HealthInvestor Awards in recognition of its support for the sector.

Senior debt facilities were provided by TDC.

Panthera Biopartners was advised by EY Parthenon (Corporate Finance and Vendor Commercial Due Diligence), PwC (Financial and Tax Due Diligence) and DLA Piper (Legal).

LDC was advised by Rothschild & Co (Corporate Finance and Debt Advisory), Mansfield Advisors (Commercial), DWF (Legal) and KPMG (Tax and Structuring).

It comes after Lancashire Business View reported in the May/June edition about Panthera powering the clinical trial revolution.

The leading clinical trials group works with 10 out of the top 12 pharma companies and seven of the top contract research organisations (CROs) supporting them as they look to deliver advancements in medical treatments.

It was reported that it is carrying out trials in vaccines, cardiovascular, general medicine, diabetes, neurology, respiratory, dermatology and rheumatology alongside specialist areas such as oncology and early dementia.

In the last quarter of 2024 alone, Panthera signed up more than 1,000 UK patients to take part in its studies