Sartorius to Acquire Polyplus in $2.6 Billion Deal

Sartorius announced on March 31, 2023, that it had agreed to acquire Polyplus, a company specializing in developing materials for cell and gene therapies, for €2.4 billion (US$2.6 billion). Polyplus is a French developer and producer of transfection reagents, as well as various other DNA/RNA delivery reagents, ingredients critical in the production of viral vectors. According to a company press release, in addition to transfection reagents Polyplus has broadened its upstream portfolio for gene therapies through acquisitions in plasmid design, protein manufacturing, and plasmid manufacturing.

“The innovative solutions of Polyplus are highly complementary to our portfolio, in particular to our offering of cell culture media and critical components for the development and manufacture of advanced therapies, and there are also strong synergies with our portfolio of downstream solutions for the manufacture of gene therapeutics,” said René Fáber, member of the Executive Board, head of Bioprocess Solutions, Sartorius, in the release. “In the dynamically growing market for cell and gene therapies, viral vectors are needed to deliver the genes of interest into cells. The development pipeline of such therapies has been growing strongly and more and more are reaching major milestones. As a leading supplier of critical components to produce cell and gene therapies, Sartorius and Polyplus together will be excellently positioned to play a significant role in this dynamic field.”

“We would be excited to join forces with a world class bioprocess market leader as Sartorius,” said Mario Philips, CEO, Polyplus, in the release. “Our combined portfolios would create a unique ability to optimize the total process workflow to deliver unparalleled value for cell/gene and DNA/RNA therapy customers, in a strong effort to make these critical needed therapies more affordable.”

Sartorius signed an agreement to make the acquisition through its subgroup, Sartorius Stedim Biotech. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.

Source: Sartorius