Four privately held biotech firms across the U.S. announced Oct. 16 that they had merged under Los Osos name Discovery Life Sciences.

The deal was facilitated through an investment by Chicago-based Water Street Healthcare Partners. The merger included the Central Coast firm, Conversant Bio, Folio Bio and Phylogeny, which have operations in Columbus, Ohio and Huntsville, Ala. Financial terms of the deal were not specified.

The combined company offers a range of services in biopharma, diagnostic, scientific consulting and laboratory services under the Discovery name. It also leverages a database of more than 10 million research-quality biospecimens, according to a news release announcing the deal.

“We’ve created an organization to provide researchers with significant added value through our consultative ‘SmartSourcing’ model, which creates intelligent partnerships to overcome research problems and accelerate progress, saving both time and money,” said Discovery CEO Glenn Bilawsky.

The companies retain a network of more than 165 clinics in 25 countries, they said, which enables them to obtain the samples from diverse patient populations.

• Contact Marissa Nall at mnall@pacbiztimes.com.