Sartorius acquires AllPure to fill gaps in single-use portfolio

Sartorius Stedim Biotech has acquired a majority stake in single-use systems start-up firm AllPure Technologies.

Sartorius has not revealed how much it paid for the New Oxford, Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of bioprocessing equipment but says the product portfolio will further expand its own biomanufacturing product offering.

“AllPure further completes our portfolio with innovative products that help our customers develop and manufacture their pharmaceutical drugs safer and more efficiently,” said Sartoris Executive Board Member Reinhard Vogt.

AllPure has been operating for four years, has 25 employees and reported revenue of approximately $3m (€2.2m) for 2013. Amongst the single-use components manufactured from its facility in New Oxford is the TakeOne aseptic sampling system and QuickSeal aseptic tube sealing system.

According to AllPure President Michael Zumbrum, “[Sartorius’s] global reach and industry relationships grant access to considerably more customers, especially in Europe and Asia, which have tremendous potential for AllPure’s products.”

The announcement is Sartorius’s second acquisition in the bioprocess arena in the space of six months, with the $45m takeover of small-scale cell culture firm TAP Biosystems being completed in November.

Biopharma-Reporter.com attempted to contact Sartorius by phone and email but received no response at the time of going to press.

However, in a presentation of the firm’s Q1 2014 results yesterday Sartorius said TAP had performed well contributing to the double-digit growth in sales revenue in an industry that is seeing continued uptake of single-use systems.

In its bioprocess business, the firm reported a 15% increase year-over-year for first quarter sales with revenues of €137m. Product order intake rose 3.4% y-o-y to $158m, attributed to “special growth impulses” and the strong demand for single-use products.