Questcor buys API specialist BioVectra for $51m
pharmafile | January 8, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â API, Achtar, BioVectra, QuestcorÂ
US biopharma firm Questcor has signed a deal to acquire Canadian active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturer BioVectra for an upfront fee of C$50 million ($51m).
BioVectra has been Questcor’s manufacturing partner for the API in the US company’s flagship product, HP Acthar Gel (repository corticotropin injection), for almost a decade, and also supplies chemical intermediates, bioprocessing reagents and APIs to other customers.
BioVectra will continue to operate independently – in its current location and under its existing management team – and Questcor has pledged to support the Canadian firm’s growth once the deal completes later this month.
Bringing the Acthar API production in-house “puts us in a better position to meet the continuing growth in demand”, said Don Bailey, Questcor’s chief executive, who noted that the company will finance the deal with cash on hand.
Acthar is approved as a second-line therapy for patients with infantile spasms, idiopathic types of nephrotic syndrome, multiple sclerosis relapses and several rheumatology-related conditions and has been growing fast, helping Questcor’s revenues grow to around $140 million in the third quarter of 2011 from just $60m a year earlier.
Bailey also said the acquisition “brings to our company a broader depth of technical and scientific expertise, and provides us with a platform for potential international expansion”.
BioVectra’s technological capabilities include synthetic organic chemistry, natural extraction of bioactive compounds from plant and animal-based biomass sources, PEGylation and conjugation chemistry, and fermentation of a variety of molecule types.
The Canadian company currently employs around 180 workers and reported sales of C$28 million in the third quarter of 2012, which was a 15% increase over the previous fiscal year.
Full terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but BioVectra said its shareholders could also receive additional cash consideration of up to C$50 million, based on its financial results over the next three years.
Phil Taylor
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