Millipore Corp. will acquire Serologicals Corp. in a $1.4 billion, all-cash transaction. The combined organization of approximately 5,800 employees will have significantly expanded R&D capabilities and a worldwide sales, sales support, and service organization of approximately 1,200 professionals selling a broad portfolio of complementary products.

In a statement, Millipore contended that the strategic combination of the companies will significantly strengthen Millipore’s Bioscience Division by giving it leading positions in a broad range of high growth segments such as drug discovery products and services, antibodies, cell biology reagents, and stem cell research. The company expects to increase sales of Serologicals’ products in international markets such as Europe, Asia and Japan, where Millipore has a significant presence. Millipore’s Bioprocess Division will gain a cell culture supplements offering that will facilitate its entry into the $1 billion upstream bioprocessing market. As a result, the company stated, Millipore will be the only business in the life science industry that can offer both upstream cell culture and downstream separation offerings for biopharmaceutical production.  

Martin Madaus, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Millipore, said, “Our acquisition of Serologicals is transformational.  This move will significantly increase our life sciences footprint and will advance many of our strategic objectives. Serologicals and Millipore are two of the fastest growing companies in our sector, and our combination will create a company with very attractive growth and profitability. Serologicals participates in a number of high-growth market segments and brings a portfolio of innovative, higher margin products that can be sold through our combined, global sales organization.  With the addition of Serologicals’ R&D capabilities, we will also be able to pursue new markets and bring together the applications expertise of both companies to generate value for customers.”  

The transaction, which is expected to close on or about June 30, 2006 and was approved by both companies' boards, is subject to Serologicals shareholder approval, customary regulatory approvals, and other conditions in the merger agreement.

Abraxis BioScience will purchase Pfizer's Cruce Davila manufacturing facility in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico. This 56-acre site consists of a 172,000-sq.-ft. validated manufacturing plant with capabilities of producing EU and US compliant injectable pharmaceuticals, as well as protein based biologics and metered dosed inhalers. In addition, the acquisition includes a state-of-the-art, computer-controlled 90,000-sq.-ft. API manufacturing plant, and two support facilities with quality assurance and laboratories, totaling 262,000 sq. ft.

This facility, which is expected to employ approximately 400 to 500 people when fully-operational, will provide a third manufacturing site using Abraxis' proprietary nanoparticle albumin bound technology to produce chemotherapeutics such as Abraxane for Injectable Suspension (paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension) (albumin-bound), the first commercial product based on this technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Abraxis will lease the chemical raw material plant back to Pfizer to continue the manufacturing of Pfizer's celecoxib, the active ingredient of Celebrex. Financial details were not disclosed.

The fully-equipped facility adds to Abraxis' manufacturing capacity in Melrose Park, IL, Grand Island, NY, and Barbengo, Switzerland and expands its European and cGMP manufacturing capabilities to provide infrastructure for worldwide growth.

"We have implemented a strategic plan to grow Abraxis BioScience into a global, fully integrated biopharmaceutical company with worldwide capabilities in drug development, manufacturing and marketing. The acquisition of a state-of-the-art raw material and finished dosage plant from Pfizer is the first step in implementing this plan," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Abraxis' chief executive officer and executive chairman. "We are very excited about this expansion into Puerto Rico. It is well known for its quality manufacturing talent and has an excellent reputation for working closely with businesses."

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