Repligen Corp. has acquired Refine Technology’s bioprocessing business for a combination of $20.5 million in cash and shares of Repligen stock, as well as potential milestones of as much as $8.8 million through 2016, and a royalty provision of as much as $2.2 million.
 
The acquisition includes Refine’s Alternating Tangential Flow (ATF) System, a device used to increase product yield during the fermentation step of the biomanufacturing process, which adds a profitable product line and expands the company’s direct sales presence worldwide.
 
The ATF System is available in a range of sizes from lab scale to commercial manufacturing and is used in the production of several FDA-approved drugs. Repligen plans to develop a single-use, consumable version of the ATF System for customers who are employing manufacturing facilities with single-use bioreactors.
 
“The Refine purchase is a significant step toward the realization of Repligen’s goal to build a best-in-class bioprocessing company. We continue to execute on this goal by supplementing our organic growth strategy with the acquisition of the market-leading ATF product line used by biopharmaceutical manufacturing customers worldwide,” said Walter C. Herlihy, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Repligen. “The significant overlap of Refine’s customer base with our own will support a global buildout of our commercial infrastructure.”