Deal-Making Archives - Page 25 of 59 - BioProcess InternationalBioProcess International

Thermo Fisher adds EU viral vector plants in €725m Novasep deal

Thermo Fisher adds three Belgian facilities to its gene therapy contract manufacturing business. The sale is the latest divestment by Novasep. Thermo Fisher paid approximately €725 million ($878 million) to acquire Novasep’s Henogen viral vector manufacturing business, a business that brought in around €80 million in revenues in 2020. The deal bolsters Thermo Fisher’s gene therapy capabilities, adding 7,000 square meters of manufacturing space tand 400 staff through three facilities at two locations in Seneffe and Gosselies, Belgium. Thermo Fisher…

Double Dutch: Cristal and Intravacc team on vaccine tech

by Dan Stanton

The partnership looks to develop vaccines using Intravacc’s outer membrane vesicles (OMV) tech and Cristal Therapeutic’s copper-free click chemistry reagent with an initial target being COVID-19. The two companies will work together to develop novel vaccine programs with initial work during the evaluation period taking place at Cristal’s facility, followed by the further work conducted at Intravacc’s facility, both in the Netherlands. Financial details of the collaboration have not been divulged. Initially, the partnership is targeting a vaccine against COVID-19.…

Sanofi shells out $1.1bn for immunology MAb maker Kymab

by BPI Staff

Sanofi will gain global rights to KY1005 and a monoclonal antibody discovery and development platform through the addition of Kymab. French pharma giant Sanofi is paying $1.1 billion upfront for Cambridge, UK-based biotech Kymab with a further $350 million depending on potential milestones. The deal brings the fully humanized monoclonal antibody KY1005 to Sanofi’s pipeline, along with four other early clinical and preclinical candidates. According to the firm, the candidate targets immune system regulator OX40-Ligand, “blocking inappropriate activation and proliferation…

COVID vaccine success accelerating the mRNA space, MilliporeSigma

by Dan Stanton

MilliporeSigma has bolstered its messenger RNA (mRNA) manufacturing offering with the addition of German CDMO AmpTec and its polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based technology. The deal, financials of which have not been divulged, went through last week and plays into MilliporeSIgma’s strategy to expand its mRNA manufacturing services for both therapeutic modalities and diagnostics. The “technology acquisition,” as MilliporeSigma spokeswoman Rachel Bloom-Baglin describes the deal, comes fresh on the arrival of the first two mRNA vaccines. The US FDA approved both…

Bayer joins Wacker and Fareva in CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine network

by Gareth Macdonald

CureVac has hired Bayer to help develop mRNA-based medicines including the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. Under the deal – financial terms of which were not disclosed – Bayer will provide development support, manufacturing, guidance on clinical operations, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical information and supply chain performance. A CureVac spokesman told Bioprocess Insider “The present agreement does not include manufacturing on Bayer´s side. However, Bayer is currently evaluating all options to support manufacturing of CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine.” The agreement specifies that…

Up on the downstream: Sartorius to buy Novasep’s chromatography division

by Dan Stanton

Sartorius Stedim Biotech says it continues to take on the challenges in efficient downstream processing through the proposed addition of Novasep’s chromatography equipment business. The deal, set to go through in the next few months, will see Sartorius bolster its downstream offering within its Stedim Biotech bioprocessing division. Financial terms have not been disclosed for now, and the acquisition is dependent on antitrust approvals. “The unit to acquire comprises resin-based batch and intensified chromatography systems, and primarily focuses on high-pressure,…

WuXi to make COVID-19 vaccine at shelved Bayer hemophilia drug plant

by Gareth Macdonald

WuXi Biologics will make components of COVID-19 vaccines and other biologic products at the facility it bought from Bayer. The Chinese CDMO acquired the plant in Wuppertal, Germany last month in a deal valued at around €150 million ($185 million). Bayer had originally planned to use the Wuppertal plant to produce recombinant factor VIII products. However, in November 2018 the firm announced it would not commission the facility. A Bayer spokesman told us “the decision was based on a review…

SK Holdings set to jump into cell and gene CDMO space with Yposkesi buy

by Dan Stanton

Korean investment firm SK Holdings is looking to buy Yposkesi to add a cell and gene therapy business to its growing CDMO portfolio. While the deal is not done and financials have not been revealed, SK Holdings is looking to become the majority shareholder in the majority shareholder of Yposkesi, a France-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in advanced therapies. If it goes through, Yposkesi will fall under SK’s CDMO holding company, California-headquartered SK Pharmteco, formed last year…

Inovio contracts Kaneka for plasmid DNA COVID vaccine

by Millie Nelson

Inovio has partnered with plasmid manufacturer Kaneka Eurogentec to support the production of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, INO-4800. Kaneka Eurogentec, an affiliate of Kaneka Corporation, will join Inovio’s growing network of contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) to support INO-4800, a COVID-19 plasmid DNA-based vaccine, set to move into a Phase II/III clinical trial. The biotech has not disclosed the terms of agreement. However, Inovio’s CEO, Joseph Kim, said that “Kaneka Eurogentec will be a crucial member of Inovio’s global manufacturing…

Eli Lilly $880m Prevail buy a ‘good entry point’ into gene therapy

by Dan Stanton

As Eli Lilly agrees to buy Prevail Therapeutics adding a pipeline of neuroscience assets, CEO Dave Ricks hints at further acquisitions in the gene therapy space. The deal announced yesterday will see Eli Lilly pay approximately $880 million upfront for New York-based Prevail Therapeutics, with a further $160 million set to be paid upon the first approval of a product. Prevail, launched in 2017, is developing gene therapies to slow or stop the underlying disease process for patients with neurodegenerative…