Novozymes Continues Biopharmaceutical Push

Continuing its effort to become a supplier of ingredients to the biopharmaceutical industry, enzymes producer Novozymes has agreed to acquire the Australian biotechnology company GroPep for close to $65 million.

GroPep manufactures Long R³ IGF 1, a growth factor supplement that is used by the biopharmaceutical industry to produce vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and other recombinant proteins. Long R³ IGF 1 is added to mammalian cell-based biopharmaceutical manufacturing systems that don't use animal serum as a cell-nutrient source.

According to GroPep, Long R³ IGF 1 is used in the production of seven biopharmaceuticals that have combined annual sales in excess of $3.2 billion. GroPep itself had sales last year of $12.7 million, almost all from Long R³ IGF 1, which is distributed by Sigma-Aldrich's SAFC Biosciences unit.

The GroPep purchase is part of a Novozymes initiative to apply its biotechnology know-how, now employed mainly in the production of industrial enzymes and microorganisms, to the pharmaceutical industry.

Last month, Novozymes completed its acquisition of the British firm Delta Biotechnology, a Sanofi-Aventis subsidiary that calls itself the world's only maker of animal-free recombinant human albumin. The product, Recombumin, is used by pharmaceutical companies as a replacement for human serum albumin, a protein found in blood plasma and used in the formulation of drugs and vaccines.