PharmaZell, Novasep merger creates new CDMO, API manufacturer

07-Apr-2022 - Last updated on 07-Apr-2022 at 17:12 GMT

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The union of the active pharmaceutical ingredient supplier and contract development and manufacturing organization will create a global services company.

PharmaZell—a company that specializes in supplying specialty active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)—has announced the closing of its merger with Novasep, a contract development and manufacturing organization with expertise in complex small molecules and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The completion of the merger, initiated in September 2021, creates a unified company that offers both CDMO and SPI manufacturing services.

Sylke Hassel, CEO of the new company and former CEO of PharmaZell, said, “Today is a very important step on our journey to better support our customers and the patients they serve. This merger is a significant opportunity to further improve our offering, providing a broader set of technologies, a global manufacturing footprint, and end-to-end lifecycle management.”

Michel Spagnol, the former CEO of Novasep, will join the new company’s board of directors. He said, “I have great confidence that the group will become a major player thanks to the complementarity of its offer and the combination of talents. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all Novasep's employees for their commitment and hard work during these past years and remain confident that they will continue to strongly contribute to the development of the new group.”

According to the merger partners, Novasep’s assets, capabilities, experience, and expertise serve to complement the offerings of PharmaZell, and the combination of the two businesses creates a company with a presence in Europe, the US, and India. Further, the merger reportedly will enable the combined organization to support pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector customers across the entire drug life cycle better than the individual companies, while guaranteeing proximity and quality of service to deliver appropriate therapies for the benefit of patients.

The combined business reportedly will generate approximately €500m in revenue annually. Further, the company will employ more than 2,000 employees across its 10 production and R&D sites—seven in Europe, two in India, and one in the US.

The transaction is backed by PharmaZell’s current majority shareholder, Bridgepoint.