LACHEN, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Octapharma AG invests €80 million to acquire an exclusive worldwide license to certain IP of Glycotope’s recombinant technology and to become a minority shareholder of Glycotope GmbH Berlin.
Glycotope is a global leader in Glycobiology and is developing new and proprietary biopharmaceuticals with optimized and fully human glycosylation structures as well as highly specific antibodies against glyco-epitopes on cancer cells.
In addition to this investment Glycotope will be commissioned by Octapharma to a series of research and development projects that enable the technology transfer and accelerated development of certain therapeutic proteins.
Octapharma Chairman, Wolfgang Marguerre, said, “The access to Glycotope’s Gex Cell Line Technology opens up a host of interesting and very promising opportunities for our recombinant pipeline. We are convinced that the collaboration with Glycotope will significantly strengthen our biotechnology business development. This engagement is a very important step for Octapharma’s development and will provide significant growth opportunities for the future.”
Dr. Steffen Goletz, Glycotope CEO, said, “Octapharma’s ongoing commitment to haemophilia research, combined with its experience in developing and marketing haemophilia and other blood protein factor products, makes them an excellent partner for our human blood coagulation portfolio, GlycoExpress technology and long-lasting technologies. We very much look forward to working with the scientists and clinical development teams at Octapharma to exploit the therapeutic potential of our portfolio and technologies for the benefit of patients needing improved, reliable and potentially more convenient treatment options of their haemophilia conditions."
About Octapharma
Headquartered in Lachen, Switzerland, Octapharma is one of the largest human protein product manufacturers in the world and has been committed to patient care and medical innovation since 1983. Its core business is the development and production of human proteins from human plasma and human cell-lines. Octapharma’s revenue forecast for 2015 is €1.5 billion.
Octapharma has 48 subsidiaries and representative offices and employs approximately 6,000 people worldwide to support the treatment of patients in over 100 countries with products across the therapeutic areas of Haematology (coagulation disorders), Immunotherapy (immune disorders) and Critical Care.
Octapharma owns five state-of-the-art production facilities in Austria, France, Germany, Sweden and Mexico.
For more information visit www.octapharma.com
