Merck KGaA’s MilliporeSigma to Acquire Natrix

On August 28, 2017, MilliporeSigma, the life-science subsidiary of Merck KGaA, announced an agreement to acquire Natrix Separations, an Ontario, Canada-based provider of hydrogel membrane products for single-use chromatography. This acquisition is part of MilliporeSigma’s efforts to drive next-generation bioprocessing.

“The Natrix technology platform, and the development options and capabilities that this brings for single-use and rapid cycling chromatography, will allow us to accelerate our offering in [monoclonal antibody] and vaccine manufacturing,” said Udit Batra, CEO of MilliporeSigma, in a company press release. “This acquisition creates tremendous opportunity to drive growth and advancement in next-generation processing-an area of increasing importance to our customers.”

Next-generation processing is any technology, expendable, or system that changes the existing monoclonal antibody manufacturing template through unit-operation intensification, connection of unit operations, or fully continuous processing. Biomanufacturers are moving toward next-generation processing because of perceived benefits, including increased plant productivity, facility flexibility, cost efficiencies, and reduced risk. Next-generation processing is expected to triple in market size between 2020 and 2025, according to  MilliporeSigma.

Specializing in the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals through disposable downstream processing products, Natrix markets an anion exchange membrane and cation exchange membrane, and is developing additional products to enable a fully single-use, full-scale biological purification process.

“Joining MilliporeSigma gives us the opportunity to collaborate with some of the best minds in the industry, allowing us to further the great work done by our scientists,” said John Chickosky, CEO of Natrix, in a company press release. “I am truly excited to become part of a larger effort and see the benefits of this combination in the advances we will make for our customers and the global scientific community.”

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. Financial details were not disclosed.

Source: MilliporeSigma