Catalent to Acquire Juniper Pharmaceuticals

Catalent announced on July 3, 2018 that it has agreed to acquire Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including its Nottingham, UK-based Juniper Pharma Services division, to expand the company’s formulation development, bioavailability, and clinical-scale oral dose manufacturing services.

Juniper provides bioavailability enhancement for poorly soluble compounds, including nano-milling, spray drying, hot-melt extrusion, lipid-based drug delivery, as well as cGMP clinical manufacturing for potent and controlled substances.

In a statement announcing the acquisition, Catalent reported that Juniper’s expertise in formulation development, and supply, and will augment Catalent’s portfolio of solid-state screening, preformulation, formulation, analytical, and bioavailability enhancement including development of spray-dried dispersions, with integrated development, analytical, and clinical manufacturing at the Nottingham facility.

Catalent will continue to support Juniper’s CRINONE (progesterone gel) franchise marketed by Merck KGaA outside of the United States.

Catalent also announced that the Nottingham facility will provide similar capabilities as its centers of excellence for early drug development in San Diego, CA and Somerset, NJ.

Under the agreement, a subsidiary of Catalent will commence a tender offer to purchase all of Juniper’s shares for a price of $11.50, net to the seller in cash. Following the tender offer, Catalent plans to acquire the remainder of the Juniper shares at the same price through a merger with a newly formed wholly owned subsidiary of Catalent. The acquisition of Juniper is subject to certain customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of Catalent’s 2019 fiscal year, which began on July 1, 2018, Catalent reported in the statement.

Source: Catalent