Eden and Bora entered into a definitive agreement in May this year to enable Eden’s CDMO assets to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Bora in a cash deal valued at no less than US$50m and up to US$65m if certain milestones are achieved after one year.
In a letter to shareholders this month, Eden Biologics CEO and director, Steven Lee, explained the rationale for the divestment of that division to Bora Biologics Co Ltd:
“In the past six months, Eden’s Board went through a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Bora’s proposal with a clear focus on value creation, partnership, synergy and financial reward for maximizing the benefits to all our shareholders. The proposed transaction shall deliver a substantial cash injection to Eden, while combining Eden’s biologics CDMO business with expanded pharmaceutical CDMO capabilities."
Lee joined Eden last September. Since then, he said, the entire team has been focused on two businesses, namely biosimilar development and biologics contract development and manufacturing.
“As a result of our team efforts, the leading biosimilar, Denosumab, has entered Phase 3, closely followed by two more biosimilars in the pipeline.”
Currently, that pipeline portfolio has over 13 biosimilars, he said.
The CEO also outlined the effort that went into streamlining and optimizing the CDMO business to maximize its revenue potential. “Consequently, we received multiple offers to acquire our CDMO business before finalizing the transaction with Bora.”
Expanded focus
“In addition, we feel that our CDMO team will have better opportunities to explore many emerging innovations in cell and gene therapy beyond monoclonal antibody product families with the support from Bora,” added Lee.
Eden Biologics, located in Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, Taiwan, was formerly known as JHL Biotech. The company instigated the name change in February 2021.
The deal sees Bora get a facility with four 500L bioreactors, all of which have been certified by the EU Qualified Person (QP) and the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The facility has proven its comprehensive CDMO capabilities by having completed several collaborative projects commissioned by international partners," said Bora VP, Simon Chen, in May.