SciGen sells Israeli vaccines plant to FDS
pharmafile | December 6, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â FDS, SciGenÂ
UK drugmaker FDS Pharma has bought a manufacturing facility in Israel operated by Singapore biopharmaceutical concern SciGen.
FDS Pharma has bought the hepatitis vaccine manufacturing plant along with license rights for the manufacture and sale of SciGen’s vaccine against hepatitis B – for $2 million in addition to 5% royalties on sales, according to a SciGen stock exchange announcement.
SciGen is a subsidiary of Polish biotechnology concern Bioton, and has been under financial pressure of late, with its last quarterly statement indicating that it was down to its last $1.75 million in cash reserves. As a result the Australian Stock Exchange, on which SciGen’s shares are listed, had started raising questions about the company’s solvency and a potential de-listing.
The facility in Rehovot has the capacity to manufacture 12 million doses of hepatitis B vaccine a year, but has been a drain on SciGen’s resources, representing for a write-down of $6.1 million in the firm’s 2010 accounts.
In November, the Singaporean company said it was examining a range of options to help support the business, including the divestment of its Israeli subsidiary and Sci-B-Vac hepatitis B vaccine, as it refocuses its activities to concentrate on supplying insulin products and biosimilars.
Chinese plant next on the block?
SciGen is also considering selling off a subsidiary in China which owns a secondary filling and packaging facility that is in the process of being commissioned to supply insulin into Asian markets.
The company sells insulin manufactured by Bioton in Asia-Pacific markets, but company secretary Jenny Low said the sale of the Chinese plant would be considered “provided the company will recover its cost of investment and at the same time reduce the operating expenses of the group for the next 12 months”.
FDS Pharma owns patents to vaccines and produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for the Russian and other markets. The UK company is run by Dimitry Genkin, who also serves as chairman of Russian pharma company Pharmsynthez.
The sale is conditional on various factors, including approval by Israel’s administrative and regulatory bodies, according to SciGen.
Phil Taylor
