Virginia Beach-based LifeNet acquires San Diego company

Published November 12, 2019 by Robert Powell, III

Virginia Beach-based LifeNet Health, a regenerative medicine company, has acquired the assets of Samsara Sciences, a San Diego-based life sciences company.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Samsara specializes in human primary liver and kidney cell isolation. The acquisition includes Samsara's equipment, inventory and associated technology.

“These assets complement our primary cell programs, which provide vital resources for discovering safe, effective new therapies,” Rony Thomas, LifeNet’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We continue to invest in this area and collaborate closely with pharmaceutical and biomedical research organizations to support breakthroughs in patient care.” 

Founded in 1982, LifeNet is the federally-designated organ procurement organization for Virginia. Its services range from organ procurement to new innovations in bio-implant technologies and cellular therapies.

The Samsara assets will be incorporated into LifeNet's San Diego facility, which opened in May. The San Diego location is part of a network that includes research facilities in North Carolina and Virginia where more than 30 scientists and subject-matter experts focus on recovering and isolating a range of human primary cells.

LifeNet said primary cells represent an important resource for advanced biomedical research. These cells, the company said, are a critical means of understanding how therapies affect organs and systems in the human body.