Abenza Acquires US CDMO PacificGMP

Abzena has acquired PacificGMP, a privately held biopharmaceutical CDMO based in San Diego, CA, the company announced on Sept. 14, 2015. The acquisition is in line with Abzena’s expansion strategy, allows for broader support for its partners’ development projects, and enables cross-selling of its services and technologies, the company said in a press release.

Abzena is acquiring the entire issued share capital of PacificGMP, including settlement of the non-trading liabilities of PacificGMP at completion, for a cash consideration of $7.7 million from existing cash resources, and warrants over 564,762 Abzena shares with an aggregate value of $0.7 million (approximately £0.5 million) based on the average price of Abzena shares over the 60 trading days prior to closing.

PacificGMP provides contract process development and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, including monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and gene therapy and cell therapy products, for a growing international customer base. PacificGMP was founded in 2005 and is a pioneer in the adoption of single-use manufacturing technology. Its service offering includes process and analytical development, non-GMP and cGMP manufacturing, and regulatory support.

The acquisition also increases Abzena’s penetration beyond its existing manufacturing cell-line development offering into the growing contract biopharmaceutical manufacturing market, and enables the company to provide additional support for the development of products based on Abzena’s proprietary Composite Human Antibody protein engineering and ThioBridge ADC bioconjugation technologies. The acquisition will give Abenza an operational base in the US to build and support Abzena’s international business. PacificGMP will allow Abzena to develop stronger links with its customers in North America and the Asia-Pacific area and to access a network of US West Coast biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions.

In addition, the acquisition provides an opportunity to offer PacificGMP’s manufacturing services for later-stage clinical programs and niche commercial-scale manufacturing through investment in the expansion of PacificGMP’s facility.

PacificGMP has executed a new lease agreement to expand the facility in San Diego from 14,000 to 23,400 ft² to provide a total of five manufacturing cleanroom suites, as well as additional analytical and process development laboratories.

Source: Abenza