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Overview
Simulations Plus agreed on June 16, 2026 to be taken private by Altaris for $18.50 a share, or about $375 million total. Shareholders get a 26% premium over the prior 60-day average. Altaris plans to fold the company into Chemical Computing Group, a molecular-design firm it already owns.
The deal arrives after a bruising year. In July 2025, Simulations Plus disclosed a $77.2 million write-down and the firing of auditor Grant Thornton in the space of two days; the dispute spilled into SEC filings and sent the stock down about 25%. Two law firms launched merger investigations on the deal's announcement day, questioning whether $18.50 is enough.
Why it matters
Pharma researchers lose another independent modeling tool, and shareholders may be cashing out near the bottom after a costly write-down depressed the stock.
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People Involved
Organizations Involved
A maker of software that simulates how drugs move through and act on the body, used to speed up drug discovery and development.
A New York-based investment firm that focuses only on healthcare and manages more than $9 billion in equity capital.
An Altaris-owned firm that makes molecular-design software for pharmaceutical, chemical, and materials customers.
Timeline
January 1996 June 2026
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Altaris agrees to buy the company
Latest AcquisitionSimulations Plus agrees to a $375 million all-cash sale at $18.50 a share, with plans to go private and merge with Chemical Computing Group.
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Brodsky & Smith opens merger investigation
LegalShareholder law firm Brodsky & Smith announced it is investigating whether the Simulations Plus board breached its fiduciary duties and whether $18.50 provides fair value to shareholders.
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Johnson Fistel opens securities investigation
LegalJohnson Fistel announced it is investigating potential securities law violations at Simulations Plus, including whether the company made false or misleading statements about its financial outlook and internal controls.
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Fiscal 2025 results show a tougher market
FinancialRevenue rose 13% to $79.2 million, but management flagged client budget cuts and project delays.
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$77.2M write-down and auditor firing rock the stock
FinancialSimulations Plus disclosed a $77.2 million non-cash impairment charge, then revealed it had fired auditor Grant Thornton; Grant Thornton later told the SEC its internal-control concerns 'were not resolved to our satisfaction.' The stock fell about 25% over the two days.
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Company goes public
CorporateSimulations Plus lists on the Nasdaq stock market, raising capital to expand its software work.
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Simulations Plus founded
OriginWalter and Virginia Woltosz start the company to build simulation software for pharmaceutical research.
Historical Context
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
ArchiMed takes Instem private (2024)
The healthcare-focused private equity firm ArchiMed bought Instem, a UK maker of software for drug-development and clinical research, for about £203 million. Instem left the London market and went private.
Instem delisted and continued operating under private ownership, free of quarterly reporting.
Another independent drug-development software vendor moved under a specialist healthcare investor.
A near-identical playbook: a specialist healthcare PE firm pulls a niche drug-development software company off public markets.
Novo Holdings buys Catalent (2024)
Novo Holdings, the investment arm behind Novo Nordisk, acquired drug-manufacturing services firm Catalent for about $16.5 billion and took it private. The deal drew heavy regulatory review given Novo's drug ties.
Catalent left public markets; regulators cleared the deal after scrutiny of its links to a major drugmaker.
A healthcare investor absorbed a key pharma-services supplier, concentrating capacity under one owner.
Shows healthcare-focused investors taking pharma-services firms private, and how regulators weigh consolidation in the drug-development chain.
Dassault Systèmes acquires Medidata (2019)
French software giant Dassault Systèmes bought clinical-trial software company Medidata for about $5.8 billion. The purchase folded a major drug-trial data platform into a larger design-software portfolio.
Medidata became a unit of Dassault's life-sciences arm rather than a standalone public company.
Drug-development software kept consolidating into larger platforms spanning multiple research stages.
Mirrors the strategic logic here: combine tools used at different stages of drug research under a single owner.
