Pharmaceuticals firm buys Spanish lab for £5m

MANCHESTER-based live biotheraputics specialist 4D Pharma has acquired the production assets of a Spanish based contract research organisation for up to £4.85m.

It has bought Biomar, which specialises in microbial fermentation, for up to €6m (£4.85m).

An in initial payment of €3m will be made, with third paid in cash and the rest in shares.

A further €3m will become payable in cash dependent upon certain certifications being acquired for the production of live biotherapeutics at the León premises.

Biomar has been working as an outsourced development partner for 4D Pharma since 2014. The company made the acquisition because of a  lack of pharmaceutical grade facilities capable of producing live biotherapeutics at both clinical and production scale.

Alex Stevenson, 4D’s chief scientific officer, saidd: “Over the past 12 months, we have witnessed first-hand the issues of relying on third party providers for the production of our product for clinical and development programmes.

“As our pace of development continues, with more of our programmes moving towards the clinic, 4D needs continued access to its own facilities to meet the challenges of our ambitious clinical development programmes, but also in looking forward to our initial production requirements.”

The transaction will see 4D León, a newly incorporated Spanish subsidiary, acquire the business assets from Biomar, and take a lease at Biomar’s León premises. 

Of the current Biomar staff, 13 will move over to 4D León as part of the transaction, with the expectation that a further five staff will be recruited over the next six months.

Last week the company announced it had made a pre-tax loss of £10.1m after completing a year of acquisitions and stock market placings which have raised £64.8m.

It’s last acquisition in February was of Tucana, a start-up company from University College Cork in Ireland, which investigates the use of microbiome signature to aid the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, including those targeted by 4D, including irritable bowel syndrome and cancer.

The company is at the forefront of research into treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s Disease among children as won approval to start trails for both.