There is more movement in the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing market, this time in France, where peptide specialist Synprosis was snapped up by fine chemical maker Provence Technologies Group.
Synprosis is a decade-old contract development and manufacturing organization based in Aix-en-Provence, France. It made its name in creating synthetic vaccines for HIV and malaria and has since branched into active principles for cancer, allergies and other drugs for neurogenerative diseases and pain treatment. Provence Technologies, which does R&D in fine chemicals for pharma and other industries, is based in Marseille, France. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Synprosis will be renamed Provepep and become Provence's specialized division in pharmaceutical production, the company said in a release. Jean-Pierre Salles, who founded Synprosis, will remain with the Provepep executive team. Provence Technologies CEO Michel Feraud pointed out that the active peptides sector is growing and will add to Provence's operations in biologically active pharmaceuticals. Synprosis has a 25,000-square-foot facility that includes 5,000 dedicated to peptide synthesis manufacturing and three synthesizers of up to 4-liter volume.
There has been lots of consolidation in the API industry in the last couple of years. Last year, Plankstadt, Germany-based International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) picked up Peptisyntha, a Brussels-based custom manufacturer of peptides for pharmaceuticals. It became its third site offering this service. India's SeQuent Scientific last week said it was buying Indian intermediate maker Arvee Synthesis. China's Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical announced in January that it would pay $337 million to buy heparinmaker Scientific Protein Laboratories (SPL), which is based in Waunakee, WI.
- here's the announcement