EDINBURGH, UK AND HOPKINTON, MA, 4 August 2022 – RoslinCT, a cell and gene therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (‘CDMO’) developing life-changing therapies in Edinburgh’s BioQuarter, and Lykan Bioscience (‘Lykan’), an innovative CDMO focused on cell-based therapies, today announce that they have entered into a business combination agreement to form a global leading innovative advanced therapies CDMO.
The combined group will offer process development expertise and cGMP manufacturing for a broad range of autologous and allogeneic cell therapies, with unparalleled expertise in gene editing and industry-leading induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) capabilities.
The group will benefit from significantly expanded capacity, with process and analytical development laboratories and cGMP manufacturing facilities in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Lykan has a 64,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art cell therapy manufacturing facility and innovation/development laboratories with 16 cGMP processing suites running by the end of 2022. Further laboratory and cGMP capacity expansion in Scotland is planned to build on RoslinCT’s existing 40,000 sq. ft facilities, including 8 cGMP suites.
With demand for high-quality development and manufacturing capacity increasing across the world, this complementary pairing of RoslinCT and Lykan will shorten development and manufacturing timelines for advanced therapy sponsors, facilitating clinical and commercial GMP product release on both sides of the Atlantic.
Earlier in 2022, Global Healthcare Opportunities, or GHO Capital Partners LLP (“GHO”), the European specialist investor in global healthcare, announced its investment in RoslinCT. As part of the new agreement, GHO is making a majority investment in Lykan and is backing the funding of the combined entity. WindRose Health Investors, previously the majority owner of Lykan Bioscience, have reinvested in the new combined group along with Lykan Management.
RoslinCT CEO Peter Coleman and Lykan President & CEO Patrick Lucy will remain in their current roles. Together, the new entity will have a global headcount of ~300 employees.
Peter Coleman, Chief Executive Officer of RoslinCT said: “This combination puts us in a strong position as a leading global CDMO in the process development and manufacturing of advanced cell therapies, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues at Lykan to fuel future growth and meet the increasing demand for innovative therapies.”
Patrick Lucy, President & Chief Executive Officer of Lykan Bioscience, commented: “We are delighted to combine with RoslinCT to better serve the growing demand for manufacturing capacity and expand the range of innovative services we can provide our partners to support the development of advanced cell and gene therapies.”
The Partners at GHO Capital, said, “This is a significant step towards the realisation of our shared ambition for RoslinCT and Lykan to build a leading global CDMO in the development and manufacture of advanced cell therapies. The collaboration represents an important step in the continued growth and internationalisation of the two businesses and we look forward to partnering with the combined Management teams and WindRose Health Investors to realise this vision.”
CJ Burnes, Partner at WindRose Health Investors, said, “Lykan has grown tremendously during our ownership, including completion of their state-of-the art facility and the subsequent doubling of cGMP manufacturing capacity. The combination of RoslinCT and Lykan will further accelerate this growth as it creates a unique platform providing key value-added services to the highly complex segment of advanced cell therapies and we look forward to partnering with GHO, RoslinCT and Lykan Management through this next phase.”
Advisors
Ropes & Gray and Slaughter & May acted as legal advisors to GHO, Alvarez & Marsal as financial and tax advisor, Dark Horse Consulting Group as technical advisor and ERM as ESG advisor. McDermott Will & Emery LLP acted as legal advisor to Lykan, and William Blair & Company served as financial advisor.
ENDS
About RoslinCT
RoslinCT is a leading UK Cell Therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) focused on providing services for companies developing cell-based therapeutic products. Originally founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the Roslin Institute, we built on the broad range of scientific expertise available in the field of cell biology. Based at the Edinburgh BioQuarter, we operate fully licensed GMP manufacturing facilities and have a proven track record in the delivery of cell-based products. For further information, please visit www.roslinct.com.
About Lykan Bioscience
Lykan Bioscience is an innovative contract development and manufacturing services organization (CDMO) focused on cell-based therapies. With decades of biopharmaceutical industry experience, Lykan offers a full range of development and manufacturing services. The state-of-the-art, purpose-built facility offering eight independent manufacturing suites is uniquely designed to fully integrate cGMP principles and advanced software solutions to enable real-time testing and release of product. Located in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 25 miles southwest of downtown Boston and in the proximity of four international airports, Lykan Bioscience is ideally situated to deliver life-saving cell therapy treatments to patients on behalf of their partners. Visit www.lykanbio.com
About GHO Capital
Global Healthcare Opportunities, or GHO Capital Partners LLP, is a leading specialist healthcare investment advisor based in London. We apply global capabilities and perspectives to unlock high growth healthcare opportunities, targeting Pan-European and transatlantic internationalisation to build market leading businesses of strategic global value. Our proven investment track record reflects the unrivalled depth of our industry expertise and network. We partner with strong management teams to generate long-term sustainable value, improving the efficiency of healthcare delivery to enable better, faster, more accessible healthcare. For further information, please visit www.ghocapital.com
About WindRose Health Investors
WindRose makes equity investments in companies that operate within the services sectors of the healthcare industry. The firm focuses on companies with profitable business models and a demonstrated ability to deliver cost-effective solutions. WindRose manages over $2.6 billion in investments. WindRose is based in New York City. For more information, please email us at info@windrose.com.
For Media Enquiries Consilium Strategic Communications Amber Fennell, Matthew Cole Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700 ghocapital@consilium-comms.com |