Henogen acquisition completes Novasep's biomanufacturing portfolio

Active pharmaceutical ingredient and purification technology producer, Novasep has bought the Begium-based contract manufacturer Henogen, a CMO offering bioprocess development and manufacturing services from the cell bank to the supply of clinical products.

The move adds a complementary range of upstream processing capabilities and services to Novasep's downstream processing (DSP) offer. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition means Novasep customers will have access to manufacturing solutions covering almost every type of biopharmaceutical. In particular, Henogen brings its experience with an extensive array of expression tools including E. coli, yeast, L. lactis, insect and mammalian cells as well as viral vectors. Novasep also becomes one of the few contract manufacturing organisations able to provide the complete manufacturing solution in the rapidly growing field of antibody-drug conjugates, covering early development to future commercial production.

The two companies have already cooperated on several biomanufacturing projects and together have a strong portfolio of customers including big pharma, mid-size pharma and biotechs.

Henogen has more than 100 employees and operates two biomanufacturing facilities south of Brussels. It will become a part of Novasep Process, Novasep's biomolecules division.

According to market researchers Arthur D Little, the contract biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing services is estimated at US$ 1.8 bn. Biopharmaceutical companies are looking for ways to increase production and reduce cost, both of upstream processing (e.g. microbial fermentation, cell culture) and downstream processing (e.g. purification mainly using chromatography and membrane filtration techniques).