Viropro, Inc. Acquires A Major Biotech GMP Production Facility.
Irvine, CA, Tuesday, February 22, 2011– VIROPRO (VPRO.PK) announces it has acquired Alpha Biologics Sdn. Bhd. of Penang, Malaysia, through a Share Purchase Agreement.
Acquisition is paid through issuance of 525,000,000 shares valued at US$0.04 each, representing a total value of US$21 million. The offer and sale of the shares was made pursuant to a non-US person pursuant to Rule 903(b)(3).
Alpha Biologics is a contract process development and GMP biomanufacturing company, with process development laboratories located in the biotech cluster of Cambridge, UK and a state-of-the-art 5,000 sq. meter advanced GMP mammalian cell clinical production facility located in the Penang Science Park, Malaysia, with 30 employees. Alpha Biologics provides its clients with supplies of mammalian cell proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies or recombinant proteins, or other cell-derived products.
Over the next few months, the plant will undergo due process to obtain its certification under the Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme (PIC/s), which is a global harmonization scheme for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) with 39 member countries and agencies, including the US FDA. EMEA accreditation will follow thereafter
Dr. Rajiv Datar, President and CEO of Viropro comments: “With this acquisition, Viropro has taken the first step towards creating a global biotech contract services business, and towards achieving our goal of offering an integrated Contract Development and GMP Manufacturing Services platform to our clients in the Biopharmaceutical industry. We anticipate further acquisitions as we make progress, and are very pleased to count on the support of SpringHill Management Ltd., UK, along with that of a talented and committed team of scientists, engineers and specialists, in our endeavor.”
Dato Dr. Kim Tan, Chairman of Springhill Management and of Alpha Biologics adds: “This transaction allows us to participate in the entire biotech Contract Development and Manufacturing services offering, and thus provides increased leverage to our Penang facility. We look forward to working closely with Viropro and its other subsidiaries towards the realization of a common mission, which is to ‘make biotech drugs for clients, efficiently and economically.’”