Asahi Kasei Medical is expanding into the CDMO business with the acquisition of Bay Area biologics maker Bionova Scientific for an undisclosed price.
Like many in the industry, Japan-based Asahi Kasei has been on an expansion tear during the past few years. It purchased Austrian viral safety testing services provider Virusure Forschung und Entwicklung in 2019 and last year snapped up U.S-based mycoplasma testing services company Bionique Testing Labs.
Financial details of the deal for Bionova weren’t disclosed. The sale is subject to regulatory clearances.
“Bionova Scientific’s process development capabilities are particularly highly regarded in the industry, and it has a rich track record regarding complex next-generation antibody drugs, which are typically challenging to manufacture,” the company said in a statement.
Next-generation antibody drugs, which include antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies, are more complex to manufacture and require special production expertise—something Bionova is known for in the industry.
With the deal, Asahi Kasei gets Bionova’s 36,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that was completed last year located in Freemont, California. The facility features two 2,000-liter mammalian cell culture trains and the capability to produce multiple monoclonal antibodies and other recombinant proteins—one of the company’s areas of expertise—simultaneously.
Although a final construction cost for the Freemont facility was never disclosed, Bionova drew on a $22 million equity investment to help finance the project.