| Johnson
Matthey announces that it has acquired Cascade Biochem
Limited ("Cascade") a small company focused
on the manufacture and supply of prostaglandins and
other complex molecules as active pharmaceutical ingredients
for the pharmaceutical industry.
Prostaglandins
are complex, chiral molecules that have a variety
of applications in cardiovascular, ophthalmic and
gastrointestinal medicine. Given their high potency,
chemical complexity and the difficulty of their
synthesis, prostaglandins are very low volume,
high value active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Demand is expected to see good growth in the coming
years as new prostaglandin based drugs are brought
to market and existing drugs come off patent.
Cascade
employs 30 people, mainly highly skilled chemists,
at its small scale manufacturing facility in Cork,
Ireland and at its research and development laboratories
on the university campus at Reading, UK. The Cork
facility is cGMP compliant and was approved for
API manufacture by the US FDA in May 2001.
The
initial purchase price of £2.75 million is
subject to adjustment, based on the subsequent
performance of the Cascade business, up to a maximum
of £8.0 million. After taking into account
interest costs, the acquisition will make a small
contribution to profit before tax, exceptional
items and goodwill amortisation in the current
financial year.
Commenting
on the acquisition Chris Clark, Chief Executive
of Johnson Matthey said:
"Cascade,
with its strong position in an important niche
of low volume, high value APIs, is an excellent
fit with our existing business. We are delighted
to have been able to acquire Cascade and look forward
to it contributing to the growth of our Pharmaceutical
Materials Division."
|
Enquiries:
Johnson
Matthey
John
Sheldrick
Group Finance Director
020 7269 8438
Ian
Godwin
Group Corporate Communications Manager
020 7269 8410
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