FUJIFILM Corporation has entered into an agreement*1 to acquire Biogen (Denmark) Manufacturing ApS, a large-scale biologics manufacturing site located in Hillerød near Copenhagen, Denmark (“Biogen Hillerød”) from Biogen for approximately US$890 million*2 in cash. Upon closure of this transaction, Biogen Hillerød will become Fujifilm’s fourth biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing site. The existing workforce at the site, which consists of approximately 800 employees, will be retained by Fujifilm. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with expertise in the development and manufacture of biologics and advanced therapies is responsible for all of the Fujifilm biopharmaceutical CDMO sites.
Biogen Hillerød is equipped with 6 x 15,000L bioreactors for the manufacture of cell culture derived biologics*3. This facility will significantly expand the capacity and capabilities of Fujifilm and provides a line of sight to large production volumes through “scale up”*4, thus complimenting the current “scale out” *4manufacturing model implemented under its Saturn mAb services*5. This acquisition demonstrates the clear focus of Fujifilm to deliver on its strategy to support projects from pre-clinical through to commercialization with best in class assets capable of delivering very small to very large production volumes. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies currently provides a line of sight to large scale production capacity (20,000L) for microbial derived biologics*, through its partnership with MSD, Brinny.
“At Fujifilm, our goal has always been to bring new value to society, through innovation and the creation of new technologies, products and services. We are pleased to contribute to the growing healthcare industry through this investment.” said Shigetaka Komori, chairman and chief executive officer of FUJIFILM Corporation. “This significant investment demonstrates our continued commitment to grow the Bio CDMO Business and become an industry leader by combining resources of Biogen Hillerød and Fujifilm.”
“Fujifilm is a well-respected leader in manufacturing biologics products and they share our pioneering culture,” said Michel Vounatsos, Biogen’s chief executive officer. “We are pleased to reach this agreement with them.”
“We are proud to combine the talent and expertise of the Biogen Hillerød employees with FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ capabilities as an industry-leading CDMO,” said Paul McKenzie, Ph.D., executive vice president, pharmaceutical operations and technology at Biogen.
“We are so excited to welcome the Biogen Hillerød team into the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies family,” said Steve Bagshaw, chief executive officer of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies. “These world-class facilities are rivalled only by the experience and capabilities of the Biogen Hillerød team with approximately 800 employees, and we look forward to leveraging these skills for the benefit of current and future customers.”
Fujifilm has aggressively invested in its Bio CDMO business for increasing the production capacity and capability of process development at the sites of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies in the U.S. and U.K. The company will extend the service of its Fill/Finish services in fiscal year ending March 2021 to include cGMP aseptic filling of recombinant proteins for its full service CDMO approach. In addition, it introduced next generation mammalian expression system, Apollo™ X that is capable of delivering industry leading titres in excess of 10 g/L. Through aggressive capital investment and the development of highly efficient and highly productive technologies, Fujifilm has expertise in the development and manufacture of a variety of biologics including recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, viral vaccines and gene therapies, and it will continue to further expand the business.
In its pursuit to establish itself as a comprehensive healthcare company covering prevention, treatment and diagnosis, Fujifilm has made multiple strategic acquisitions over recent years that expand and diversify its healthcare portfolio; this was most recently demonstrated by the acquisition of Irvine Scientific, which became a Fujifilm company on June 1, 2018. The ability to identify and exploit synergies between its businesses is a key strength of Fujifilm and fundamental to its growth strategy.
This acquisition is expected to be completed around August 2019, subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals from competition authorities.
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*1 Fujifilm signed an agreement for acquiring all shares of Biogen (Denmark) New Manufacturing ApS owned by Biogen Luxemburg Holding Sarl, which is wholly owned by Biogen. Through the agreement, Fujifilm will acquire all shares in Biogen (Denmark) Manufacturing ApS, which is wholly owned by Biogen (Denmark) New Manufacturing ApS.
*2 Subject to the quantity of incoming orders of Biogen Hillerød.
*3 Cell culture derived biologics are therapeutic drugs expressed by multicellular eukaryotes, whereas microbial derived biologics are therapeutic drugs expressed by single cellular prokaryotes.
*4 ”Scale up” refers to a volumetric increase of a single production batch. “Scale out” refers to the production of replicate batches.
*5 Saturn mAb Solutions are services provided by FDB that provide a streamlined and cost effective approach for the development and manufacture of monoclonal antibodies. For more information please refer to https://www.fujifilmdiosynth.com/cell-culture/saturn/
