Switzerland-based CMO (contract manufacturing organisation) Siegfried Group has bought Alliance Medical Products (AMP), a Californian business with sterile filling capabilities. AMP posted sales of $20m (€16m) last year and addition of its 100-strong team will strengthen Siegfried in biopharma.
Rudolf Hanko, CEO of Siegfried, said: “Siegfried is one of the few companies with capabilities in both pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing. Our acquisition of AMP expands our exceptional CMO platform into the sterile filling market, a particularly attractive segment.”
Piramal Healthcare has formed a three-person mergers and acquisition team to search for takeover opportunities in the biopharma sector. The chief operating officer, Vijay Shah, is one member of the panel and is reportedly looking for targets in the CMO sector.
“Contract manufacturing and services is a widely fragmented segment in the pharma industry at present and there is enough scope for consolidation”, Shah told Livemint in an interview last week.
Piramal kept its contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) business when it sold assets to Abbot and is now looking to expand the business through acquisition. Shah, who is joined on the M&A panel by the chief executive and financial officers, has ambitious plans for the CRAMS business.
“We want to scale up [custom manufacturing] to make it to the top five in the world. It will be through acquisitions and organic growth. In fact, we had looked at couple of companies in India for acquisition but the deals didn’t work out due to high valuation”, Shah said.
Gallus BioPharmaceuticals has completed the first phase of investment in the production plant it bought from Centocor Biologics last year. The $20m investment doubled the size of laboratories for process development at the plant and equipped it to supply monoclonal antibodies for clinical trials.
“The expansion of single-use, disposable capacity at Gallus reflects the growing demand in the biopharmaceutical industry for a fast, cost-effective development and manufacturing solution”, Mark Bamforth, Gallus BioPharmaceuticals president and CEO, said.