JPA Health has acquired medical communications and training agency BioCentric.

The deal, which closed on May 14, will allow JPA to support clients comprehensively in the years to come, said JPA CEO Carrie Jones. 

“While JPA Health is known as a marketing and PR agency, our clients need to evolve to be highly complex and scientifically sophisticated,” she said. “Bringing on the BioCentric team, we can now meet our clients where they are today and for tomorrow, continuing to innovate and plan for the future.”

BioCentric will serve as JPA’s medical communications and learning experiences arm, leveraging BioCentric’s gamification approach to enhance engagements, capture insights and drive positive behavior change, the agency said in a statement. 

BioCentric founder Sherine Aly will continue to lead the division as EVP of medical communications at JPA. BioCentric will be known as a JPA Health company for the time being to maintain its brand equity, according to Jones. 

“We do a lot of work with both commercial and medical affairs teams, but in the medical affairs arena, the space is really evolving, as are the needs,” Aly said. “One of the reasons that the JPA acquisition was so attractive to us is because JPA’s capabilities are very synergistic with ours and are really going to help us fill gaps in our clients’ needs.”

BioCentric’s team of 27 will be integrated into JPA, creating a combined network of more than 120 employees across offices in the U.S. and Europe. Its suite of services will include corporate communications, brand marketing, patient engagement and scientific storytelling. 

Aly said she was attracted to JPA because of the firm’s focus on improving patients’ lives, which aligns with BioCentric’s values and her own as a former healthcare professional. 

“We really see the potential with having these new capabilities from JPA to make a difference in patients’ lives and better serve our clients,” she added. 

No client conflicts occurred as a result of the acquisition. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. 

The deal follows JPA’s acquisition of True North Solutions in September, expanding the agency’s capabilities in predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and natural language processing. 

JPA received a minority investment from private equity firm Great Point Partners in 2022 that has supported the funding for both acquisitions. The agency is “100% committed” to expanding its specialist consulting services to continue to innovate and grow with clients, according to Jones. 

Founded in 2001, BioCentric has offices in Collingswood, New Jersey, and Lausanne, Switzerland. The agency works with global pharmaceutical companies including GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Bayer and Sanofi and federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. 

JPA Health is a healthcare communication agency headquartered in Washington, DC. Founded in 2007, the firm’s portfolio includes pharmaceutical tech company Glaukos, medical equipment supplier BlueWind Medical, Kroger Health and nonprofit the American Kidney Fund.

This article originally appeared on PRWeek US.