News
Fremont, CA April 18, 2022 – Bionova Scientific, a biologics CDMO specializing in the development and manufacture of recombinant protein therapeutics, announced that it has reached an agreement to be acquired by the US arm of Asahi Kasei Medical, a core operating company of the Asahi Kasei Group (led by Asahi Kasei Corp. of Tokyo). The acquisition represents a strategic complementary addition to Asahi Kasei Medical’s bioprocess business, which is renowned for Planova™ virus removal filters, MOTIV™ inline buffer formulation systems, ViruSure™ viral safety testing services and Bionique™ mycoplasma safety testing services. Bionova Scientific is a portfolio company of Great Point Partners, a Greenwich-based private investment firm focused exclusively on the health care industry.
Ken Shinomiya, Director Asahi Kasei Medical and head of the bioprocess business, commented, “We are thrilled to welcome Bionova Scientific to the Asahi Kasei family of companies. After an in-depth evaluation of Bionova and other biologics CDMOs, we are extremely impressed with Bionova’s scientific strength, their best-in-class facility and their passionate team that is both highly technically capable and extremely attentive to customer needs. They are the ideal organization to serve as the foundation for our entry into the biopharmaceutical CDMO services business.”
Bionova Scientific CEO Darren Head added, “We are extremely excited to become a part of Asahi Kasei. This represents an important step in our evolution as a company and provides access to new resources that will enable us to continue to add to our capacity and capabilities.” Head continued, “Asahi Kasei shares our commitment to helping patients by helping our industry partners succeed, and now we are better positioned than ever to support our clients’ current and long-term needs.”
Bionova Scientific co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Amy Kong said, “We are amazed at how far Bionova Scientific has come since our humble beginnings and grateful for the partnership with Great Point Partners that enabled us to reach this point. This acquisition by Asahi Kasei is an endorsement of Bionova’s science-first, client-focused model and is a testament to the great work of our amazing team. We are thankful for the confidence Asahi Kasei has placed in us and we look forward to many years of success together.”
Bionova co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Chung Chun added, “As a science and technology driven company, Asahi Kasei Medical is a perfect fit for Bionova. They share our long-term vision and we look forward to leveraging the complementary strengths of the two companies to benefit biopharmaceutical customers and patients.”
With the acquisition of Bionova Scientific, Asahi Kasei adds a full-service biologics CDMO with a staff of more than 100 employees in the heart of the San Francisco Bay biotech cluster. Bionova operates a state-of-the-art 11,000 sq. ft. commercial-ready GMP biologics manufacturing facility located within its 57,000 sq. ft. headquarters, which also houses process development and analytical laboratories. Bionova facilities also include a second 22,000 sq. ft. building with GMP warehouse space.
Closing of the acquisition is subject to receipt of necessary regulatory clearances.
Bionova Scientific Main Facility
Process Development Lab
Upstream Processing Suite
About Great Point Partners
Great Point Partners, founded in 2003 and based in Greenwich, CT, is a leading health care investment firm with 30 professionals, investing in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. GPP is currently making new minority and majority private equity investments from GPP III, which has $307 million of committed capital. Great Point manages capital in private (GPP I, $156 million and GPP II, $215 million of committed capital, and GPP III, $307 million) and public life sciences equity fund (BioMedical Value Fund). Great Point Partners has provided growth equity, growth recapitalization, and management buyout financing to more than 200 growing health care companies. The private equity funds invest across all sectors of the health care industry with a particular emphasis on biopharmaceutical services and supplies, alternate site care, medical device and information technology enabled businesses. The firm pursues a proactive and proprietary approach to sourcing investments and tuck-in acquisitions for its portfolio companies.
About Asahi Kasei
Founded in 1922, the Asahi Kasei Group is a diversified, multi-national group of companies centered on value creation in the fields of materials and medical science. Led by Tokyo based Asahi Kasei Corp., the group strives to anticipate the changing needs of society across three business sectors: Material, Homes and Health Care. Growth of the group is increasingly being driven by its Health Care sector, due to focused strategic investments in and robust growth across the group’s businesses in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and bioprocess.