Fujifilm has agreed to acquire two cell-culture media companies, Santa Ana, California-based Irvine Scientific Sales Company (ISUS) and Tokyo, Japan-based IS Japan (ISJ), for approximately $800 million. The company also plans to open a new marketing site in Boston, Massachusetts for its products and services supporting biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing.

ISUS and ISJ provide cell-culture media for biopharmaceutical production, in vitro fertilization, and cell therapies. ISUS distributes mainly in the US and Europe, and ISJ distributes mainly in Japan and Asia.

The pending acquisitions are part of a larger strategy by Fujifilm to increase its position in biomanfacturing and related technologies, including for cell therapies. The company’s other holdings include: Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB), which provides contract biologics manufacturing, including for antibody drug conjugates; Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujifilm and developer and manufacturer of induced pluripotent stem cell technologies; and Wako Pure Chemical Industries, a reagent manufacturer. The company says that the acquisition of ISUS and ISJ, along with its advanced chemical synthesis and design capabilities from its photographic film business and the cell preparation and culturing technologies of its group companies, such as Japan Tissue Engineering Co, CDI, and FDB, will enable growth of its cell-culture media business and provide further synergies for its contract development and manufacturing business for biopharmaceuticals, research and development in regenerative medicine, and further expansion of its reagents business.

The company said that it in the first half of fiscal year ending March 2019, it will establish a new site in Boston for the marketing of products and services that support the research and development and manufacturing of new drugs that will be in addition to ithe current sites of FDB, CDI, Wako Pure Chemical, and ISUS U.S.A. Effective April 1, 2018, CDI was renamed Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics, Inc. and Wako Pure Chemical was renamed Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical Corporation.

Source: Fujifilm