MilliporeSigma, the Massachusetts-based contract manufacturing arm of Merck KGaA, is increasing its presence in the gene therapy manufacturing field as it has signed an agreement to acquire Mirus Bio for $600 million.
The 19-year-old company being acquired, which is based in Madison, Wisconsin, is a subsidiary of Gamma Biosciences. It develops and commercializes transfection reagents, which allow genetic material to be incorporated into cells and play a pivotal role in the production of viral vector-based gene therapies.
“This acquisition, combined with our comprehensive portfolio, enables us to provide a truly differentiated and integrated offering to meet the growing demand for these life-saving therapies,” Matthias Heinzel, CEO of Merck KGaA’s Life Science division, said in a release.
The companies expect to complete the deal in the third quarter of this year once they gain regulatory clearance.
Mirus Bio is a University of Wisconsin spinoff. This is not its first deal with a pharma giant. In 2008, it sold its RNAi delivery platform to Roche for $125 million.
“We have been driving innovation in nucleic acid delivery for two decades,” Dale Gordon, CEO of Mirus Bio, said in the release. "MilliporeSigma’s broad portfolio, scale, and global reach, combined with our leading transfection reagents, will help take our business to even greater heights."
Millipore’s gene therapy production efforts began in 1997, predating its acquisition by Merck KGaA by 13 years. In 2021, the companies expanded their gene therapy production campus in Carlsbad, California, opening a new 140,000-square-foot plant. The $110 million facility more than doubled Millipore’s manufacturing capacity at the site.
Of Merck KGaA’s 63,000 employees, 28,000 are in the Life Science unit, which includes 55 manufacturing and testing sites worldwide. While sales in Merck KGaA’s Healthcare and Electronics units were up by 7% and 3% in the first quarter of this year, respectively, they were down 14% in Life Science due in large part to a 17% decrease in CDMO revenue.
Despite the drop in post-pandemic revenue and the overall downturn of the CDMO industry, Merck KGaA has shown no evidence of rethinking its contract manufacturing efforts. Two months ago, Merck KGaA and Millipore unveiled a plan to invest $326 million in a new biologics manufacturing plant in Daejeon, South Korea, which will add 300 jobs.