Genzyme Corporation today announced that it has completed
the sale of its diagnostic products business to Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. for
$265 million in cash.
Sekisui purchased substantially all of the assets of the
business, including diagnostic product lines and technologies. Genzyme’s
approximately 575 employees in the business were offered similar positions with
Sekisui, which plans to maintain operations in each of the business’s current
locations. In connection with the sale, Sekisui also entered into a supply
agreement to provide Genzyme with certain enzymes needed for the production of
Cerezyme® (imiglucerase for injection).
Genzyme also announced today that it has entered into a
purchase agreement under which an affiliate of International Chemical Investors
Group (ICIG) will acquire Genzyme’s pharmaceutical intermediates business.
Under the terms of the agreement, ICIG will purchase
substantially all of the pharmaceutical intermediates business, excluding the
drug delivery technologies portion of the business. ICIG has agreed to offer
employment to the unit’s approximately 120 employees upon closing, and plans to
maintain operations at its primary location, a manufacturing facility in Liestal, Switzerland.
The acquired pharmaceutical intermediates business will be renamed Corden
Pharma Switzerland LLC and will operate as part of ICIG’s pharmaceutical business
within the Corden Pharma platform.
The companies’ goal is to close the transaction during the
first quarter of 2011. Financial terms are not material to Genzyme and were not
disclosed.
As part of the agreement, ICIG will enter into a five-year
supply contract to provide Genzyme with materials needed for the production of
eliglustat tartrate, an investigational treatment for Gaucher disease Type 1
that is currently in phase 3 clinical trials. ICIG will also supply materials
needed for the manufacture of other treatments in earlier stages of
development, including neo-GAA, currently in preclinical development as a
potential next-generation Pompe disease therapy.
