BRIEF—Pharmaron acquires UK biomanufacturing site from AbbVie

Pharmaron, a China-based R&D service provider for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Allergan Biologics Limited (ABL) in Liverpool, UK.

The ABL facility belongs to US pharma major AbbVie, which recently completed the acquisition of Allergan.

AbbVie will receive $118.7 million in cash from Pharmaron.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

The ABL site consists of a state-of-the-art, flexible cGMP biomanufacturing facility with over 150 staff.

Leveraging the industry-leading expertise in the process R&D, cGMP manufacturing and advanced analytical capabilities in broad range of biologics products, the ABL site has further established a solid foundation and expertise in Cell and Gene Therapy product development using a suspension system for manufacturing up to commercial scale.

The ABL site has held MHRA biologic manufacturing license accreditation since 2007.

This transaction will be highly synergistic to Pharmaron’s recent acquisition of Absorption Systems in the USA for building an integrated CGT services platform.