French biopharmaceutical industry contract supplier Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSM) has acquired BioSource, a privately owned Glasgow, Scotland-based biotech firm for an undisclosed sum.

The Scottish company, in the market since 2007, employs 85 people and has annual sales of about €9 million.

BioOutsource provides contract testing services to clients in the global biopharmaceutical sector to monitor safety and quality of biological drugs and vaccines and also offers services to the biosimilars industry, where its assays are used in the early stages of drug comparison and comparability as well as for lot-release testing of modern therapeutics.

Aubagne-headquartered SSM said the acquisition will "help develop its service offering through the drug development pathway."

The French company with annual sales of €683.5 million has its own manufacturing and R&D sites in Europe, North America and Asia and a global network of sales offices. Its key manufacturing and research site is in Germany.