Nov 21, 2019 | BioVectra, News
See original news release here
CHARLOTTETOWN – November 04, 2019 – Today, H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm with over $34 billion of equity capital under management, announced that one of its affiliates has completed the acquisition of BioVectra Inc., a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) of active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
“We are excited to enter into this new chapter with H.I.G. Capital.” said Oliver Technow, Chief Executive Officer of BioVectra. “We have been fortunate over the last few years with the support of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals to execute on our strategic growth plan. We look ahead to continuing on this path with H.I.G. Capital, an experienced investor in the CDMO space. H.I.G. is committed to our strategy and management team, and we look forward to continuing to pursue the company’s various growth initiatives
“We are very pleased to partner with Oliver Technow as well as his exceptional leadership team and dedicated employees,” said Mike Gallagher, Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital. “Oliver and his team have expanded BioVectra’s presence by pursuing strategic capital expenditure programs to significantly expand capacity. We believe the company is well positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for its broad set of technical capabilities and exceptional quality track record.”
Entering their 50th year, BioVectra’s highly-skilled employees and recent expansions to support active pharmaceutical ingredient production capacity in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and biologics capabilities in Windsor, Nova Scotia, will be major drivers of the company’s growth plans. “Make no mistake,” said Technow. “This fantastic opportunity with H.I.G. Capital is a direct reflection of the dedicated team we have and the incredibly supportive environment we operate in. Everyone at BioVectra looks forward to continued growth and success right here in Atlantic Canada!”
About BioVectra
BioVectra is a CDMO that serves global pharmaceutical and biotech companies with full-service cGMP
outsourcing solutions for intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). An innovative and
reliable service partner with a strong regulatory history, BioVectra specializing in:
• cGMP microbial fermentation
• Complex chemistry – high potency APIs
• Biologics
• Formulation development
For more information about BioVectra, please visit www.biovectra.com.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $34 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and
operationally focused/ value-added approach:
1. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
2. H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
3. H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
Media Contact
Jordan MacGregor
Communications and Marketing Manager
BioVectra Inc.
[email protected]
902-566-9116 ext. 6376
Mar 4, 2019 | BioVectra, News
BioVectra Inc. announces a $144.6 million expansion project, including a $37.5 million contribution through the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund
— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits BioVectra to announce Government of Canada investment in Atlantic Canadian CDMO and high-skilled jobs creation in the region —
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada (March 4, 2019) – Today, BioVectra Inc., an Atlantic Canadian Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), announced a five-year, $144.6 million (CAD) expansion project to enhance its Biopharmaceutical capabilities in both Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and Windsor, Nova Scotia.
Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, visited BioVectra in Charlottetown to announce a $37.5 million contribution from the Government of Canada through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). The $37.5 million contribution represents the single largest SIF Project ever awarded in Atlantic Canada.
“Thanks to innovations in life sciences, Canadians are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. Canadian companies like BioVectra are creating new jobs and establishing themselves as global leaders in producing lifesaving treatments for serious illnesses that affect millions of people around the world. Today, we are not only investing in an innovative Canadian business, but also in Canadians and the future prosperity of our country.” – The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
More specifically, the project is intended to support BioVectra’s on-going Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) production capacity expansion in Charlottetown, as well as an expansion of its Biologics capabilities in Windsor, including a mammalian cell culture facility.
Over the project’s five-year lifespan, 150 high-skilled, full-time jobs are expected to be created on Prince Edward Island and in Nova Scotia. “We are pleased to announce plans to create 150 additional jobs, 110 to be located at our Windsor site and 40 in Charlottetown,” said BioVectra President, Oliver Technow. “This is an extremely proud day for BioVectra, and we are deeply appreciative of the government’s support. Since 2015, we have invested approximately $25 million per year in expansions and technologies that have vastly enhanced our capabilities. Today’s announcement is a continuation of our commitment to growth right here in Atlantic Canada!”
As a trusted and innovative partner, BioVectra’s global client base includes most of the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies in the world. “Our clients develop important, life-saving medicines for people all around the globe,” said BioVectra’s Windsor General Manager, Heather Delage. “This exciting expansion project is designed to help propel us toward being a top-tier player in the biologics field, where many therapies are advancing rapidly, and changing the way healthcare is delivered.”
Beyond these expansion plans, BioVectra intends to complement its existing academic partnerships by forming additional collaborations with Canadian academic institutions. This investment includes reinforcing its future talent base by providing over 25 students with on-the-job training and internship opportunities on an annual basis.
About BioVectra
BioVectra is a CDMO that serves global pharmaceutical and biotech companies with full-service cGMP outsourcing solutions for intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients. An innovative and reliable service partner with a strong regulatory history, BioVectra has over 45 years of experience specializing in:
- cGMP Microbial Fermentation
- Complex Chemistry – High Potency APIs
- Biologics
- Formulation Development
For more information about BioVectra, please visit www.biovectra.com.
Media Contact
Jordan MacGregor
Communications and Marketing Manager
BioVectra Inc.
Phone: 902-566-9116 ext. 6376
E-Mail: [email protected]
Statements in this document that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding future business prospects, use of capital or the impact of any such events or developments, and any other statements regarding events or developments the company believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, may be “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law.]]>
Oct 25, 2018 | BioVectra, News
Read the original article here.
BioVectra Inc. is a bioscience business with three locations in Charlottetown and one in Windsor, Nova Scotia. The company, which has more than 300 employees, focuses on contract manufacturing and product development of active pharmaceutical ingredients, pharmaceutical intermediates, and bio-reagents.
The company is currently building another expansion to its site at 11 Aviation Way in Charlottetown.
This past summer, BioVectra hired 11 students for summer jobs in a variety of positions, including engineering, product research and marketing, drug development, quality control, Human Resources, administration, and finance.
Two students share their stories
Luke MacAulay of Stratford is an Engineering student who has worked at BioVectra for the past three summers. His education path has centred around math, chemistry, and business. He took two years of Engineering at UPEI and then chose to study Chemical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. He is continuing his interest in business by also taking a diploma program in Technology Management & Entrepreneurship.
“I was very lucky to be hired here at BioVectra,” says Luke. “It’s great to have a summer job that is very relevant to my field and also close to home. Once I graduate, I need five years of relevant work experience to become a professional engineer. Up to a year of that time can be earned while completing my degree, so this experience at BioVectra is very valuable.
“I’m not certain of my future plans, but I’m thinking of doing my Masters in Chemical Engineering or in Business. I hope to run my own business in the future.
“I would like to live and work on the Island. More and more jobs are being created here, so ideally, I will be able to find something on PEI after finishing my education.”
Lindsay MacGregor is from Charlottetown. After six years of study, she graduated this year from UPEI with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts in English. “There are a lot of things I can do now, based on the skills I learned at UPEI,” says Lindsay.
During her time at UPEI, Lindsay worked as a teaching assistant in the first-year biology and anatomy labs. “I was also a writing tutor. My science background was helpful because I could help both science students and arts students with different styles of writing.”
This is her third summer job at BioVectra. For the first two summers, she worked in the Research and Development Biotech lab. This past summer, she chose a new opportunity in Human Resources. “It is fun to see what else I can do with a science degree beyond lab work.
“In the human resources position, I learned more about the hiring process. I helped with recruitment, writing and posting job ads, vetting applications, and setting up interviews. I find my science background helps me better understand the positions we are hiring for.”
In September, Lindsay started a new student position in Marketing at BioVectra’s Windsor Nova Scotia facility.
“I really like the Windsor facility. Everyone works together to do what needs to be done to help it succeed. It has a really cool energy to it.
“I’m excited about this opportunity. BioVectra is a great company to work for. The company is growing quickly, and they are hiring for new positions every month.
“There are also opportunities for growth within the company.
“You can start in one area, and if you are interested in learning something else, BioVectra is very receptive to moving you to another position where you would be a good fit.”
For more information, visit www.biovectra.com. For a list of PEI bioscience job postings, visit www.peibioalliance.com.]]>
Sep 26, 2018 | BioVectra, News
Jul 16, 2018 | BioVectra, News
See original release here
Today, BioVectra Inc., a global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with microbial fermentation and synthesis capabilities with high containment, and TUBE Biopharmaceuticals GmbH, an Austrian biotech company active in the research field of cytotoxic payloads, announced that they have signed an exclusive license agreement for microbial fermentation technology to manufacture tubulysins.
After conducting further development, optimization and upscaling of the strain initially developed by TUBE Biopharmaceuticals, BioVectra intends to provide the marketplace with research- and cGMP-grade tubulysins and downstream derivatives.
Tubulysins belong to a cytotoxic tetrapeptidic natural product class that result in disruption of microtubule networks and inhibition of tubulin polymerization of cancer cells, and are suitable for use in conjugation approaches such as Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs), specifically targeting drug-resistant cancers.
Financial details of this unlimited agreement were not disclosed.
For more information, please contact Jordan MacGregor, at [email protected].
About BioVectra
BioVectra is a CDMO that serves global pharmaceutical and biotech companies with full-service cGMP outsourcing solutions for intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients. An innovative and reliable service partner with a strong regulatory history, BioVectra has over 45 years of experience specializing in:
- cGMP Microbial Fermentation
- Complex Chemistry – High Potency APIs
- Biologics
- Formulation Development
For more information about BioVectra, please visit www.biovectra.com.
About TUBE Biopharmaceuticals
TUBE Pharmaceuticals GmbH (www.tubepharma.de) was founded in January 2011 in Austria having its labs in Vienna. TUBE Pharmaceuticals develops and commercializes drug candidates derived from natural products with high potency for novel therapeutic applications in the field of oncology. Together with advanced targeting approaches safer and more efficacious therapies especially preventing tumor resistance are to be expected for patients. In-licensing opportunities in the field of natural products derived oncology drugs closer to the clinics complement the internally developed assets of the Company and help to transform the Company into an oncology development company with an attractive pipeline to create further value.]]>
Jul 10, 2018 | BioVectra, News
Arriving for a visit to BioVectra, a Canadian contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), one is reminded that pharmaceutical services companies are an idiosyncratic lot.
Most are small- to medium-sized firms whose offerings vary as widely as do their cultures. CDMOs can be found in out-of-the-way places such as foothill villages in the Swiss Alps and the cornfields of Iowa. They pop up on the outskirts of major European travel destinations like Lisbon and Paris. They cluster around Milan and can be found in the hinterlands of China.
The idea of a CDMO on Prince Edward Island—the tiny Maritime Province best known as the setting for Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novel “Anne of Green Gables”—may seem one step beyond the pale. BioVectra, however, has grown in the 18 years since it began producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to become a world-class player.
Most recently, BioVectra ventured across the Northumberland Strait to Nova Scotia, where, after a major setback, it is preparing to open a commercial-scale facility for microbe-derived biologic drugs.
The foray began in 2014 when a customer required microbial fermentation beyond what BioVectra could supply from its Charlottetown headquarters. BioVectra responded by acquiring a factory in Windsor, Nova Scotia, at which the drugmaker Sepracor once manufactured the API for its insomnia therapy Lunesta. But just as a major renovation got under way to convert the facility from small-molecule chemical to biologics production, BioVectra’s contract hit the shoals.
“Unfortunately, our partner’s market demand did not come through to reality,” recalls Heather Delage, BioVectra’s vice president of business development. “They did not end up needing the extra capacity, and our relationship became much less significant.” In essence, the deal was off. “We ended up with the facility and some very large bioreactors on order that we were obligated to purchase.”
Given little choice, BioVectra proceeded with its plan to become a
commercial-scale biologics CDMO. Now, with the first phase of reactor installations complete and the Windsor site nearing final validation, BioVectra has three contracts nailed down. Small-scale fermentation is already under way for these projects at its headquarters in Charlottetown. Work will be transferred to Windsor when the site is fully operational by the end of this year.
BioVectra’s aggressive push into large-scale fermentation, despite the loss of a key contract, reflects a recurrent theme of opportunism for a company started in 1970 as Diagnostic Chemicals by J. Regis Duffy, a professor at the University of Prince Edward Island, to make clinical reagents with the intent of creating jobs on the island for chemistry graduates.
In the ensuing years, customer requests for fine chemicals, drug intermediates, products derived from microbial fermentation, APIs, and biologics have been met with partnerships, investments, and risky new ventures. The company now operates three facilities, including an R&D building offering analytical and process development down the road from headquarters.
Construction is also under way at the main plant in Charlottetown to accommodate a recent
contract with Keryx Biopharmaceuticals to manufacture ferric citrate, the API in the kidney disease therapy Auryxia.
Matt Frizzle, director of business development, says contract development and manufacturing accounts for 70% of BioVectra’s business; long-term partnerships, some in generic drug development done at the R&D center, make up the remainder.
Synthetic chemistry accounts for 50% of revenue; the balance is a mix including R&D, reagent and peptide manufacturing, fermentation, and generics development. The company hopes to grow its fledgling biologics operation to between 25 and 30% of sales over five years. All commercial-scale biologics production will be done in Windsor, where the company has spent $60 million in the past three years building the plant.
BioVectra has funded its expansion over the years largely through risk-sharing arrangements with partners. The company’s pursuit of partnerships also led to its current corporate ownership. BioVectra was the key supplier of the API in Questcor’s H.P. Acthar Gel, a topical hormone treatment for autoimmune disease. Questcor wanted to secure ownership of the manufacturing process, so
it bought BioVectra in 2013 for $50 million. Mallinckrodt acquired Questcor the following year. Life under big-company ownership has not significantly impacted BioVectra, employees say. The main change is a Mallinckrodt-appointed CEO, Oliver Technow, who started in 2015. Technow, a German, began his career in pharmaceuticals working for Fresenius Medical Care. Most recently he headed the Canadian business of the Japanese drugmaker Eisai.
Moving into the CDMO business, Technow says, was a refreshing change from the big-pharma world. And coming to BioVectra, where nearly half the 320 employees are lifelong residents of Prince Edward Island, made for a feeling, in the Maritime vernacular, of having “come from away.”
But BioVectra is far from insular in its pursuit of business, Technow maintains, which is impressive. “The whole idea of locating biosciences in an area like this takes guts,” he says. “Who would think of it? You think of potatoes, lobsters, mussels, and oysters. ‘Anne of Green Gables.’ Cruise ships.”
Technow notes, though, that BioVectra is not alone—the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance has nearly 60 members, most much smaller than BioVectra, making the island a mini biotech hub.
“I am actually at the point,” he says, “where when people ask me why I would operate a business on Prince Edward Island, I say, why not? Prince Edward Island is punching above its weight.”
Still, BioVectra has reached a turning point where its business model needs to evolve, Technow acknowledges. “The company has had a very typical CDMO model,” he says. “You have a client, they want something and you build something, and hopefully over time you become their manufacturer of choice.” But a CDMO can do everything right and the customer’s project can still fail, he points out. “We want to move away from this very fragile, dangerous, one-dimensional business model.”
As BioVectra matures as a contract services firm, CEO Oliver Technow says it needs to take a less opportunistic approach to business development.
Technow says the firm has a three-pronged strategy now: Maintain the CDMO business, develop a stronger fermentation offering, and invest more heavily in R&D. “We are diversifying and spreading the risk and by doing so creating a more stable business model.”
Part of the R&D prong is APIs for generic drugs. Marc Sauer, vice president of R&D, says BioVectra began working to develop generics in 2007.
“The focus was on difficult-to-make generics,” he says. “Something that presents a challenge. Given our size, we aren’t going to work on commodities, like generic pain medication. There are companies out there that can do that faster, better, and cheaper than we can.”
And BioVectra harbors some stretch goals, including moving into mammalian-cell biologics in Windsor and developing compounds that can be used as “warheads” in antibody-drug conjugates.
James Bruno, president of the consulting firm Chemical & Pharmaceutical Solutions, is impressed with how BioVectra has evolved. “They have some good ideas, blending a lot of technologies,” he says. The question is whether the firm will be able to capitalize on its growth in an increasingly competitive market.
The key, Bruno says, may be patience in pursuing contracts, making sure the firm is a suitable fit for prospective customers. One good sign, he adds, is that BioVectra recently demurred on a contract with one of his clients.
“They came up front and said, ‘We don’t think we can do a good job with this.’ They handled it correctly,” Bruno says. “I think they have good people in position now. I think they are more focused than they have ever been.”
One thing the company does not have to worry about, Bruno says, is location. It is much easier for U.S. and European clients to do business with a CDMO in eastern Canada than one in China, he points out. Prince Edward Island is hardly thought of as exotic by potential U.S. clients.
Nonetheless, BioVectra has carefully included a picture of Confederation Bridge, which connects Prince Edward Island with New Brunswick, on its logo, emphasizing accessibility to an island that until 20 years ago could be reached only by ferry and small aircraft. Charlottetown Airport, across the street from BioVectra’s headquarters, is smaller than many strip malls.
Technow sees a solid metaphor in the bridge. “It’s truly what we represent—innovation from North America to the world,” he says. “This is an organization awakening from a rather remote part of the world to be a truly global player. And we are ready for the challenge.”
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