GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company,
today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire PAA Laboratories, a developer
and supplier of cell culture media for biomedical research and the fast-growing
biopharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing industry. The acquisition of PAA
Laboratories will allow GE Healthcare to expand its offering of products and
services for cell biology research and for the discovery and manufacture of
biopharmaceuticals including recombinant proteins, antibodies and vaccines. The
strong strategic fit between the two businesses, combined with expanded capabilities
in product development and marketing, will offer significant long-term customer
benefits. Financial terms were not disclosed.

 

PAA Laboratories develops and manufactures specialized and
innovative cell culture products such as media, sera, growth supplements and reagents
for use in biomedical research and in the production of protein-based pharmaceuticals.
The company, which has world-class manufacturing facilities registered with the
FDA, has recently implemented one of the world’s leading manufacturing
facilities for powdered cell culture media to meet the growing demand for these
products from the biopharmaceutical industry. PAA Laboratories’ products are
complementary to GE Healthcare’s established technologies for cell biology
research and biopharmaceutical purification.

 

Combining the expertise of the two companies will enable GE
Healthcare to offer a substantially wider range of integrated products and services
to the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

 

“The acquisition of PAA Laboratories is a significant
step forward for our Life Sciences business and for biopharmaceutical
manufacturing globally,” said Kieran Murphy, President and CEO of GE
Healthcare Life Sciences. “GE Healthcare Life Sciences is well known for
its expertise in the “downstream” processes of biopharmaceutical
manufacturing.

 

Adding “upstream” capabilities will enable us to
provide an end-to-end, fully integrated service to our customers. We believe
that an integrated approach, where we can help customers optimize every stage
of their manufacturing process, has the potential to reduce cost of entry,
deliver higher yields of finished product and reduce time to market.” The
global demand for media, sera and reagents for cell culture is predicted to
grow from $2.3 billion in 2009 to an estimated $3.9 billion by 2015*. The
acquisition of PAA Laboratories is consistent with GE’s strategy to invest in
high-technology, innovative businesses that deliver strong top-line growth and
expanded margins. The acquisition also supports GE healthymagination, GE’s
global initiative to reduce cost, increase access and improve the quality of
healthcare worldwide.

 

Welcoming the acquisition, Rainer Burian, long-term CEO, PAA
Laboratories said, “This is a great opportunity for the professional team
of staff at PAA Laboratories and we are very excited to become part of GE
Healthcare’s Life Sciences business. The Board of Directors of PAA Laboratories
strongly believes that joining such a well-respected and recognized
organization will give us significant opportunities to grow our business
further with new technologies, products and services. The entire PAA
Laboratories team looks forward to joining GE.”