Phyton Biotech acquires assets of Natural Pharmaceuticals

USA-based Phyton Biotech, an affiliate of Phyton Inc, has purchased the assets of Natural Pharmaceuticals, a US manufacturer of oncology drug active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Under the terms of the agreement, Phyton will acquire assets of NPI, which include intellectual property and patents for the production of taxane APIs, a fully-staffed cGMP manufacturing facility in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, and an API manufacturing subsidiary in Shanghai, China, Syntax Biotechnology. Phyton will be contributing sufficient capital to sustain and grow the business as well as management oversight for the new company. Other deal terms were not disclosed.

The new organization will unite Phyton affiliate, Phyton Biotech GmbH, the world's largest cGMP plant cell fermentation facility dedicated to primary taxane production with NPI's proprietary downstream synthesis of paclitaxel, docetaxel, and additional API's.

According to Phyton president, Paul Johnson, 'NPI is a well-known player in the global taxane API market. The synergies from combining both NPI and Phyton's proprietary and patented technologies were very apparent to us and will make the new organization a solid force in the taxane API market.'

Roland Franke, chief executive of NPI added that 'the fusion with NPI makes Phyton Biotech the world's only API company that can produce semi-synthetic taxanes without depending on biomass from tree plantations. The combination of plant cell fermentation and innovative manufacturing technology creates enormous capacity up front, and limitless future potential in the world-wide taxane API market.'

Near term, the company will focus on integrating NPI and Phyton from infrastructure and organizational standpoints, along with increasing the output of paclitaxel and docetaxel API's to meet the growing market demand.