Fujifilm to acquire Shenandoah Biotechnology
The type of recombinant proteins that the Pennsylvania based, privately held company manufactures include cytokines and growth factors.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fujifilm Irvine Scientific, which is focused on the manufacture of cell culture media, reagents, and medical devices for researchers and clinicians, said its customers worldwide are set to benefit from the deal as they will have a single point of access for cGMP cell culture solutions for biopharmaceuticals, and cell and gene therapies.
“Shenandoah Biotechnology’s portfolio of recombinant proteins complement our advanced cell culture solutions and expertise in bioprocessing, providing our collective customers a single point of access for their life science research, discovery, and cell and gene therapy needs.
"This acquisition will be an important step toward achieving sales target of 100 billion yen (US$850m) in Fujifilm’s Life Sciences Business by FY2025,” said Yutaka Yamaguchi, chairman and chief executive officer, Fujifilm Irvine Scientific.
The deal is expected to close later this month.
Recombinant proteins
Recombinant proteins are used in a variety of life science applications, noted Fujifilm.
"Made by cloning engineered DNA into expression systems for the purpose of large-scale production of proteins of interest, specific types of recombinant proteins such as growth factors and cytokines are essential for cell therapy, gene therapy and regenerative medicine in the areas of research, development and manufacturing.
"Growth factors and cytokines are important drivers of many cellular processes such as cell proliferation, growth, differentiation, and cell signaling."
Cell culture media
The FujiFilm Corporation subsidiary has also been focusing of late on expanding its manufacturing capacity in terms of cell culture media.
December last year saw it announce the establishment of an innovation and collaboration Center in Suzhou New District, China. Through this new center, experts would collaborate with customers to design upstream cell culture processes that meet their biomanufacturing needs.
That same month, it also reported that its new manufacturing facility in Tilburg, the Netherlands was fully operational. The facility joined locations in the US and Japan to enable increased output of cell culture media products; the Dutch site acts as a hub for both European and global markets.
