Drug delivery technology firm Nanohale has acquired the entire R&D, contract development, and manufacturing organization of Scil Technology. The combined assets and associated workforce are part of Formycon, previously Scil’s formulation services, drug production, and analytical services company, which is now a fully owned subsidiary of Nanohale.
Scil Technology is holding on to its tissue regeneration projects, and will continue to operate as an independent company to manage existing collaborations including its lead dental and orthopedic programs, which were outlicensed to Medtronic and Sanofi, respectively, in 2008 and 2011.
Nanohale specializes in the development and commercialization of nanocarrier-based delivery systems for proteins and peptides, and potentially oligonucleotides such as siRNA and miRNA. The firm maintains that the acquired assets provide strong expertise in protein drug development, formulation, and analytics, as a complement to its existing protein formulation platform. “The completion of this transaction marks a significant broadening of the product and service portfolio of the Nanohale group, and will facilitate the further transition from a pure technology-based company into a globally operating specialty pharma company,” remarks Nicolas Combé, Ph.D., CFO.
Biopharmaceutical development and formulations firm Scil says the transaction provides an ideal exit opportunity for its investors. “We have chosen Nanohale as a partner because of its perfect fit and the strategic concept of the company,” notes Christian Nafe, Scil CEO. “Nanohale will be able to make optimum use of Scil Technology’s expertise and platform for both internal drug development and external R&D services.”