JSR Life Sciences’ parent corp. will pay NT$12 billion ($400 million) for Crown Bioscience International, boosting its global footprint and CRO offerings.
Crown Bioscience has offices across the U.S., Europe, China and Taiwan and works with a portfolio of translational platforms for oncology and CVMD. It touts itself as showing insight into a drug’s efficacy, pharmacological profile and patient response profile, which it says helps toward “reducing failure in the clinic, and supporting the selection of the right patients for the right therapy.”
The deal marks JSR’s largest life sciences-focused investment to date, boosting its portfolio with a CRO and its worldwide locations.
“We are positioning to be the clear choice for innovation-driven strategic partnerships,” said Eric Johnson, president of JSR’s life sciences division. “CrownBio, and its science-rich approach, is an ideal fit to support that goal. We’re bringing together innovative competencies that will lead to better solutions for pharma and improve their ability to take therapeutics to the market.”
JSR Life Sciences’ division, with bases in Tokyo, Sunnyvale, Leuven and Beijing, predominately works on materials for biopharma manufacturing processes, as well as for life science research applications, in vitro diagnostics and medical devices.
JSR says it forecast, based “on consultation” with CrownBio’s management team, sees sales and EBITDA margins of “$90 million and $20 million, respectively in 2018.”
This comes amid an M&A spurt from the company, which in the last few years has bought out CDMO KBI Biopharma and MBL Corporation, as well as Selexis earlier this year.
“JSR envisions that CrownBio’s development capabilities will enhance the contribution of JKiC, the company’s Japan-based industry-academia-medicine collaboration hub, by providing the tools and expertise to translate leading-edge research into tomorrow’s medicines,” the company said in a statement.
By Ben Adams
Source: Fierce Biotech
Big Pharma has long seen the potential for AI and machine learning to accelerate drug development. But Novo Nordisk is going a step further by channeling $200 million toward the creation of a computer that will outrun anything in existence.
Current methods for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease rely on a complex combination of self- and caregiver-reported symptoms, a physical examination and either a PET scan or a spinal tap to look for evidence of amyloid plaque build-ups in the brain. But a new artificial intelligence-based method may make the diagnostic process a much more objective one.
There is lots of talk about diversity and inclusion in business, including in pharma and medtech. A new report by the Open Political Economy Network (OPEN), a think tank focusing on migration and diversity, released its “Minority Businesses Matter: Europe” report highlighting the successes and challenges of ethnic minority-owned businesses in Europe.
