Precious Cells buys stem cell storage tech firm citing therapies as driver
The acquisition was motivated by Pharmacells’ Oristem stem cell harvesting, collection and storage service, which will let PCB accelerate its growth into initiating clinical trials according to CEO, Husein Salem.
“This is a transformative acquisition, which gives Precious Cells BioBank a highly sought after patented technology with infrastructure in place to bring it to market, which embeds considerable value in the business.”
Salem added that: “The acquisition will also significantly accelerate our growth, particularly as we look to move towards developing stem cell therapies and diagnostics, which is one of the fastest growing areas of the stem cell sector.”
Athol Haas, Pharmacells CEO, echoed this optimism, suggesting that bringing the firms together will help expand their combined global reach.
“Partnering with Precious Cells BioBank, one of the world’s leading stem cell consumer technology platform service providers, with its depth of resource and international reach will considerably enhance our efforts to market the Oristem technology in the UK and globally.
“We are proud to have been one of the pioneers of a method to collect hundreds of millions of ultra-naïve stem cells from adult blood, which significantly improves the effectiveness of stem cell therapies and will help slow the spiralling cost of treating some of the most common and expensive medical conditions.”
The takeover will create 50 new jobs in the next three years according to PCB, which explained that the new hires will be split between its office in London and Pharmacells’ laboratory in Glasgow, Scotland.
PCB also forecast that the Pharmacells will boost its revenues by £3m ($5.1m) this year, £7m in 2015 and £15m the year after that.
The acquisition is the latest stage of PCB’s “strategy 2020” under which the UK firm plans to open laboratories and storage centres in Southern and Eastern Europe, South Africa and India over the next year.
