Evotec Enhances Rare Disease Focus with Central Glass Buy
German CDMO Evotec is to acquire compatriot company Central Glass Germany from Japanese owner Central Glass for a nominal price of €1. The transaction, which remains subject to the usual closing conditions, is expected to complete on Nov. 1.
Central Glass Germany, which will operate as Evotec Drug Substance (Germany) once the deal is finalized, is located on a pharmaceutical manufacturing campus at Halle, near Bielefeld, employing about 60 expert staff. Evotec said the facility is cGMP certified and offers highly flexible drug substance manufacturing space – particularly in the fields of precision medicines and rare diseases.
“Our understanding of diseases continuously grows in depth – and with it the number of rare diseases that we can meaningfully distinguish and target with precision medicine. Evotec DS reinforces our commitment to rare diseases by integrating the manufacturing of such drugs into the drug discovery and development continuum,” said Evotec CEO Werner Lanthaler.
Evotec added that it intended to invest “meaningfully” in the coming years to establish the facility as a leading European center of excellence for rare disease drug substance manufacturing. It expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings by 2023-2024.
On Jul. 5, Evotec also completed its purchase of Italian cell technology company Rigenerand, which will operate going forward as Evotec (Modena). The German CDMO said cell therapy is a fast-growing and highly promising field of biomedical research with the potential to achieve substantial disease-modifying or even curative effects within a single treatment.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
