Agilent Technologies lays out $925M to acquire Canadian specialty CDMO Biovectra

After changing hands several times throughout the 2010s, Canadian specialty contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Biovectra has agreed to fly the Agilent flag.

In turn, Agilent Technologies, which has made its mark selling equipment and services to drugmakers, will get a swift boost to its contract manufacturing muscle for oligonucleotides and CRISPR therapeutics, the company said Monday.

Agilent has revealed that it’s signed a definitive agreement to acquire Biovectra for $925 million through a mix of cash and debt financing. The deal, which must secure regulatory approvals, is expected to close before 2025, Agilent said in a press release.

Once the deal closes, Biovectra will join the fold as part of Agilent Diagnostics and Genomics Group, Agilent added.

Based in Canada, Biovectra manufactures biologics, highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and other molecules for targeted therapies. The company brought home $113 million in revenue last year and expects sales to grow by double-digit percentages in 2024, according to the release.  

Agilent expects the deal to bolster its manufacturing prowess across several key areas, including plasmid DNA (pDNA), mRNA, lipid nanoparticles, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and more.

Biovectra’s manufacturing services run the gamut from early-stage clinical development to large-scale commercial manufacturing. On its website, the company says it has more than 100 active clients across five geographic markets and works with 18 out of 20 of the world’s top pharma and biotech companies.

In terms of production footprint, Biovectra says it operates 5 discrete manufacturing facilities across Atlantic Canada, including four complex chemistry plants in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and a biologics manufacturing site in Windsor, Nova Scotia.

“Biovectra’s manufacturing capabilities further expand Agilent’s end-to-end biopharma offerings into new growth vectors, including workflows that seamlessly integrate analytical instrumentation, consumables, and a wide range of lab services,” Agilent President and CEO Padraig McDonnell said in a statement.

Biovectra has witnessed a number of buyouts in recent years, starting back in 2014 when it was acquired by Dublin-based Mallinckrodt through its $5.6 billion takeover of Acthar-maker Questcore.

Then, in September 2019, Mallinckrodt sold Biovectra to an affiliate of private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital for roughly $250 million.

While Agilent largely made its name by providing analytical and clinical laboratory technologies, the company has been boosting its CDMO abilities in recent years.

Last January, the company said it would spend $725 million to double its production capacity of therapeutic nucleic acids integral to biological APIs.

Prior to that, the company teamed up with contract manufacturing giant Lonza in 2021 to help overhaul the production process for cell therapies.

Under the deal, Agilent agreed to integrate its analytics technologies into Lonza’s Cocoon cell manufacturing platform to investigate critical quality attributes (CQA) needed to release the personalized therapies to patients.

Agilent generated revenues of $6.83 billion in its 2023 fiscal year. The company currently employs around 18,000 staffers around the world.