Fujifilm invests in a biotech venture, PuREC

Japanese conglomerate Fujifilm Corp (TYO: 4901) has signed an agreement to invest 300 million yen ($2.8 million) into a biotech venture, PuREC Co, through underwriting its third-party allocation of shares.

PuREC, originated from Shimane University in Japan, is a venture that aims to establish practical applications of regenerative medicine technologies using bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). Fujifilm has also signed a business partnership agreement with PuREC concerning contract development and manufacturing of regenerative medicine products.

Through the agreements Fujifilm acquires a priority option for the development, manufacture and marketing license for the introduction of a regenerative medicine product in development by PuREC that is designed to treat congenital osteogenesis imperfect (OI), a condition which results from low levels of phosphatase. Fujifilm will also provide PuREC services of process development, pharmaceutical consulting and other duties for regenerative medicine products.

Fujifilm is expanding contract services on regenerative medicine business while also accelerating R&D for its own regenerative medicine products, led by Japan Tissue Engineering (J-TEC), a Fujifilm subsidiary that developed and introduced Japan’s first regenerative medicine product to the market, and Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics (FCDI), a leading company in the development and manufacturing of iPS cells.

In march this year, Fujifilm entered into an agreement to acquire Biogen (Denmark) Manufacturing ApS, a large-scale biologics manufacturing site located in Hillerød near Copenhagen, Denmark, from US biotech major Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) for around $890 million in cash.