Japan's Nitto Denko acquires Avecia Biotechnology

Japan’s leading diversified materials manufacturer, Nitto Denko Corp (TYO: 6988), last week announced that it has acquired privately-owned Avecia Biotechnology through Nitto Americas, a wholly owned subsidiary in Teaneck, New Jersey. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A couple of years ago Avecia Biologics, based in Billingham, UK, was bought by Merck & Co and became part of the organization known as MSD outside of North America. That acquisition price was also not revealed, but Canadian news reports said it was well below $1 billion (The Pharma Letter December 18, 2009).

Located in Milford, Massachusetts, Avecia Biotechnology is a recognized leader in therapeutic nucleic acid manufacturing and development services. Avecia provides services for DNA and RNA based therapeutics to customers from preclinical through commercial launch. In addition to current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) manufacturing, Avecia’s services include the development of analytical methods, process validation, stability studies, quality control and regulatory support. Nitto Denko aims to strengthen its business base in the domain of nucleic acid drugs with this acquisition, in light of the industry’s great growth potential.