Sanquin finds investors for plasma-derived medicines manufacturing subsidiaries Plasma Industries and Plasma Products
Sanquin has reached an agreement with an international consortium that will invest in Plasma Industries in Belgium (PIBe) and Plasma Products (PP), Sanquin's two plasma-derived medicines manufacturing subsidiaries. Together with these strategic partners, Plasma Industries and Plasma Products will be able to continue to grow, internationalize and strengthen their development, services and product offerings.
Key players
Plasma Industries and Plasma Products, based in Brussels and Amsterdam respectively, use advanced biotechnological methods to purify specific proteins from blood plasma. These proteins are necessary for the production of life-saving medicines.
Plasma Industries mainly focuses on the development and production of intermediate protein products for their own products but also for large international pharmaceutical companies.
Plasma Products based in the Netherlands mainly focuses on the further processing into end products and for the commercialization of these products in international markets.
Together they process approximately 2.5 Million liters of donor plasma from all over the world into medicines every year and investments are done to bring this to 4.5 Million in the short term. In record time, a medicine containing antibodies to Covid-19 was also developed and produced in the last few months.
Efficiency and scale
Both Plasma Industries and Plasma Products were founded with the aim of self-sufficiency in Belgium and the Netherlands. With a market share of approximately 55%, the Netherlands is thus largely self-sufficient.
In recent years, takeovers and collaborations in the plasma sector have led to the creation of a number of very large global players that have increased their efficiency.
In order to be able to guarantee the supply of medicines with the same efficiency, it is therefore important that Plasma Industries and Plasma Products can continue to grow and internationalize.
Tjark Tjin-A-Tsoi, Chairman of Sanquin's Executive Board: "The market for plasma medicines is growing strongly, so now is the time for both companies to expand and achieve economies of scale. This requires investments to modernize the production facilities and make them more efficient. Then we can make more life-saving and life-improving medicines, for less money, with proportionally less plasma. Not only the knowledge and infrastructure will be maintained but in that way we can also maximize the use of the donations.”
International partnerships
In addition to the production of their own medicines, both companies, as Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), also want to further strengthen partnerships with major international pharmaceutical players.
After all, both Plasma Products and Plasma Industries have more than 60 years of experience. As leading CDMO, they have a unique and valuable knowledge in the field of plasma-derived medicine development, the processing of donor plasma from very different origins and the application of a very wide range of biotechnological processing processes.
They have also recently signed important contracts with partners for the production of medicines against Cytomegalovirus and the production of Immunoglobulins and Albumin for the US market.
Investors
The consortium with which Sanquin has reached an agreement consists of a group of international investors with extensive experience in the biomedical sector and the marketing of plasma products. These five parties guarantee a sustainable future for both companies.
The amount involved in the acquisition will not be disclosed.