Alliance Medical Group (AMG), a division of Life Healthcare Group, has acquired Piramal Imaging.

The deal includes subsidiaries Piramal Imaging Ltd. and Piramal Imaging GmbH, and the firm's U.S. business.

"The acquisition of Piramal Imaging further extends our molecular imaging capabilities, supplementing both our PET/CT scanning and radiopharmacy facilities services across Europe, and giving us access to new markets,” said Howard Marsh, managing director of molecular imaging at AMG, noting that the deal will permit the offering of a wider range of services, as well as development, production and imaging services “for new radiopharmaceuticals under the Life Healthcare brand."

AMG, which provides diagnostic imaging services and produces and distributes radiopharmaceutical products, has more than 60 PET/CT service locations and 10 radiopharmacies that make radiopharmaceuticals used throughout Europe.

Piramal Imaging is known for developing and commercializing molecular imaging agents used to address neurological, oncological, and cardiovascular diseases. The company was formed in 2012 as part of a deal to buy the molecular imaging research and development portfolio of Bayer Pharma AG. Its Neuraceq – florbetaben F18 – is approved for use in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

“Being part of the Life Healthcare Group,” said Ludger Dinkelborg, director of the Piramal Imaging board, “ensures seamless continuity in our current business. The combination provides us more opportunities to move forward with important products, such as Neuraceq for beta-amyloid imaging and our investigational tracer PI-2620 for tau imaging in patients with neurocognitive decline, and to develop our research pipeline."

Piramal Imaging will be combined with Life Radiopharma under the Life brand.

This move, stated the companies, will boost the availability of new imaging agents in clinics, while supporting the research community and pharma industry “by providing integrated biomarkers and imaging facilities in their clinical trials.”

In 2016, Life Healthcare acquired 95 percent of U.K.-based Alliance Medical Group, with senior management at Alliance taking the other five percent.

Life Healthcare CEO André Meyer said at that time that over the past few years, Life Healthcare had expanded into mental health, acute physical rehabilitation, renal dialysis and oncology, and that the deal represented “the entry into diagnostics as a natural evolution” of this strategy.

“In addition to investing in a growing developed market, the acquisition provides Life Healthcare with an opportunity to diversify into attractive new geographies with a strong basket of currencies. The transaction will also facilitate the transfer skill and expertise between our operations in India and Poland,” he noted at the time.

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