Q2-2020 Dynamk Life Science Industrials Insights: Trends, Transactions & Headlines
M&A Activity
In This Report
M&A
Top Headlines
LSI VC Investments
Dynamk Insights & Recommended Reads
Danaher's acquisition of GE Biopharma ($21.4B) was an outlier and major contributor to Q1 total, followed by Catalent acquisition of MaSTherCell ($315M). Sartorius acquisition of select Danaher GE Biopharma assets ($825M) was the major M&A deal for Q2.
Top Headlines
Sartorius Closes Acquisition of Select Assets of Danaher Life Sciences
"The acquisition of this portfolio is a further milestone for Sartorius. The assets we purchased are an excellent strategic and operational fit with both our divisions" said Sartorius Executive Board Chairman and CEO Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg. Sartorius paid a purchase price of $825M USD.
Venture & Growth Investing in Life Science Industrials
VC and growth investing remains strong in Q2 with tailwinds prevailing. For example, MGI Tech raised a large Series B ($1B) to boost production of COVID-related test equipment which contributed significantly to Q2 totals.
Continued early and late stage deployments in Q2 demonstrate overall confidence in Life Science Industrials and strong fundamentals for market growth drivers. Early stage VC investment was a significant contributor to greater capital raised in Life Science Industrials in Q2.
Dynamk Insights & Recommended Reads
The impact of the pandemic on investment activity and investment pace has been top of mind for many. From disruption of clinical trials to conducting all meetings virtually, the number of changes to typical processes have been significant. Yet the industry has proven to be quite adaptable and the outlook for Life Science Industrials remains positive driven in part by an increased demand for biopharma tools, tech, and services. We've gathered a number of interesting resources that provide additional insight:
McKinsey highlights how the Bio Revolution is creating a promising outlook through ongoing innovation
Analysis of the big four bioprocess vendors suggest a potential $14B windfall for COVID-19 vaccine development
The Life Science industry coming together against COVID, the rise of impact investing, and the robust appetite for M&A activity imply a minimal market impact for life science
Business
BD and Danaher Announce Stock Offerings, raising over $1.5B and over $3B respectively for future acquisitions, investments and organic growth
GPB Scientific raises $25.5M to further develop their closed microfluidic system to process CAR-T, stem cells, and other cells with throughput and scalability for the cell and gene therapy space
Avectas raises a $20M series C to further grow their Solupure platform and offer alternatives to electroporation to engineer cells at scale that are aligned with clinical manufacturing standards for cell-based medicines
Rapid Micro Biosystems raises $120M to build facility in Europe and grow their automated microbial contamination testing
Bio-Rad pushes into the single-cell analysis space with the acquisition of Celsee
Manufacturing
Exyte and Univercells Technologies are developing modular GMP manufacturing plants they claim can be deployed in a third of the time of conventional facilities and address increased capacity needs
Emergent Biosolutions is investing $75M to establish a multi-suite production operation with 1,000 L of manufacturing capacity for viral vector and gene therapy
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies partners with OXGENE for their AAV tech claiming to reduce gene therapy process development by 3-6 months
Thermo Fisher Scientific invests $180M to build commercial manufacturing site for viral vectors as part of their larger push into the cell and gene therapy space
WuXi Biologics expands US presence with 6,000L single-use bioreactor plant as they continue to grow their biomanufacturing capacity
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies aims to become leading bio-CDMO with $928M investment to double their biomanufacturing capacity to 240,000 L while adding fill and finish capabilities
Thermo Fisher Scientific continues to expand their biological CDMO capacity with $1B takeover of CLS's operations
Process
Allogene licenses MaxCyte's electroporation technology for the development of their allogeneic T-cell therapies with the hopes of reducing manufacturing costs as they drive towards commercialization
WuXi Advanced Therapies has developed a closed process that claims to accelerate the timelines for development of CAR-T therapies
3D cell culture continues to gain traction as CELLINK and Lonza collaborate to offer comprehensive 3D cell culture workflows
Cytiva launches their VIA capsule to address the challenges in shipping cell therapies and gaps in the related infrastructure
Research
Allogene reports 63% response rate in early trial of their off-the-shelf CAR-T in lymphoma