Wednesday, May 9, 2018 Daily Archives

Takeda: ‘$62bn Shire Megamerger Brings Greater Geography and Scale’

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After weeks of negotiations, Shire has agreed to a Takeda takeover bid worth US$62 billion. The combined company will consist of over 35 manufacturing sites globally. Japanese firm Takeda first made a bid for Ireland-headquartered rare diseases biopharmaceutical company Shire in March. After several rebuffed offers, the firms agreed to merge this week in a deal worth $62 billion (€52 billion). The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. A $32 billion bid for Shire made by AbbVie in…

May 9, 2018

PBL 3,000L Plant Could Alleviate Erwinaze Shortage

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Porton Biopharma Limited (PBL) has opened a facility in Wiltshire, UK to make cancer drug Erwinaze (asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi). PBL is a biomanufacturer owned by the UK Government. Construction of the 2,100 m2 facility began in May 2016, through a multi-million pound investment from the UK’s Department of Health Capital funding. The plant has opened its doors and full production is set to commence over the next 12 months once the process of qualifying and validating the equipment is complete.…

May 9, 2018

Repligen Reports Record Revenue, Continues on M&A Hunt

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Repligen will launch several new filtration and chromatography offerings this year as its strategy of developing products based on technology acquisitions pays off. For the first quarter 2018, Repligen Corporation reported record revenues of US$45 million (€38 million), up 46% on the same period last year. The bioprocessing company attributed the results to strong sales of its filtration and chromatography products – up by over 90% year-on-year – bolstered by the $359 million acquisition of Spectrum in June 2017. “Our…

May 9, 2018