Sanos

Who owns Sanos?

Sanos is currently owned by Investcorp through Technology Partners V (ITP V) (2024 vintage).

Hand-verified · updated 2026-04-21

About Sanos

Sanos Group is a Denmark-based specialized contract research organization (CRO) that runs clinical trials for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, combining trial design, patient recruitment, biostatistics and a network of owned research clinics under one integrated model. Headquartered in Soborg near Copenhagen, it operates as a multi-niche CRO through dedicated divisions covering musculoskeletal and osteoarthritis research (NBCD), central nervous system and Alzheimer's disease (NeuroScios), and dermatology (Blueskin), supported by services spanning electronic clinical outcome assessment, data science and clinical supply. Its long-standing scientific leadership in osteoarthritis, a condition affecting more than 240 million people worldwide, and its integrated chain of owned Danish research clinics make it a preferred partner for placebo-sensitive trials in these indications. The group now numbers roughly 200 employees, concentrated in Denmark and the United States with further presence across Europe and Hong Kong.

Ownership journey

Sanos Group was founded in 2018 near Copenhagen, building a specialized CRO around scientific expertise in osteoarthritis and an integrated set of owned research clinics in Denmark. In December 2020 Investcorp acquired the group, investing through its Technology Partners V fund, in what the firm described as one of its European healthcare investments, backing a business that then employed around 70 staff across three owned research clinics. Investcorp set out to deepen Sanos's penetration in osteoarthritis while extending it into new therapeutic areas and new geographies, notably the United States. Sanos remains an active Investcorp portfolio company and no exit or secondary transaction has been recorded.

Under PE ownership

Since the 2020 investment Sanos has been rebuilt from a specialist osteoarthritis operator into a broader multi-niche CRO, both organically and through bolt-on acquisitions. It expanded beyond musculoskeletal work into dermatology through the Blueskin division and into central nervous system and Alzheimer's research by acquiring the Austrian CRO NeuroScios, which also brought a stake in an associated biotech venture. Headcount has risen from roughly 70 at acquisition to around 200 people, spread across Denmark, the United States, Europe and Hong Kong, in line with the stated plan to grow the clinic network and enter the US market. The result is a therapeutically diversified group offering full-service and site-management capabilities across several specialist indications rather than a single-disease focus.