Hitachi beefs up regenerative medicine

Hitachi Chemical will pay $75 million to buy all the shares that it doesn’t already own in the cell therapy firm PCT. A year ago, Hitachi had paid $20 million for a 20% stake in the firm. Now majority-owned by Caladrius Biosciences, PCT is a contract manufacturer of cells used in regenerative medicine. Hitachi, which is building a cell manufacturing plant in Yokohama, Japan, says full ownership of PCT will help it expand globally in the regenerative medicine business. PCT runs facilities in several countries.