Orgenesis to get $127M from sale of Masthercell subsidiary

Orgenesis Inc (NASDAQ:ORGS), a developer of advanced cell therapies, announced Monday that Catalent Pharma Solutions has agreed to acquire one of its subsidiaries in a deal worth $127 million to the company. 

In a statement, Orgenesis said it expects to use the net proceeds from the sale of subsidiary Masthercell Global Inc, a contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO), to continue to grow its point-of-care cell therapy business and to further the development of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products. The transaction is expected to close during the current fiscal first quarter of 2020.

Masthercell, which is also backed by healthcare-investment firm Great Point Partners and Belgian-government backed investment group SFPI-FPIM, helps companies shorten lead times and lower costs in getting cell therapies and products to the market.

READ: Orgenesis sees fiscal 3Q revenue shoot up by 46% to a record $9.1M

“We are very proud of the developments and accomplishments at Masthercell Global, which has become a best-in-class contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) servicing many of the leading cell and gene therapy companies,” said Orgenesis CEO Vered Caplan. 

“We are also grateful to Great Point Partners and SFPI-FPIM for their tremendous support. Since we completed our acquisition of Masthercell Global in 2015, the business has grown rapidly along with this burgeoning industry. With Catalent’s expertise and resources, we believe Masthercell Global will be well-positioned to continue on its current trajectory in order to meet the evolving needs of the industry.” 

Caplan added: We believe the resources provided to Orgenesis by this transaction will enable us to significantly accelerate our point-of-care cell therapy platform and we look forward to providing further updates.”

Noah Rhodes, managing director at Great Point Partners, had high praise for Germantown, Maryland-based Orgenesis.

“We have been continually impressed by Orgenesis and the management team’s thorough understanding of the industry, foresight and leadership, which enabled Masthercell’s rapid expansion to become an industry-leading and best-in-class contract development manufacture organization (CDMO),” he said. 

“We are grateful to have partnered with Orgenesis through our investment in Masthercell and wish Orgenesis continued success with their point-of-care cell therapy platform.”

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Story by ProactiveInvestors