News
BIO-TECHNE ANNOUNCES INVESTMENT IN WILSON WOLF
MINNEAPOLIS, March 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ:TECH) today announced Wilson Wolf Manufacturing has met the trailing 12-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) target of $55 million, triggering Bio-Techne’s initial investment in the company, which is expected to close at the end of March 2023. Bio-Techne’s $257 million investment will give the Company a 20% ownership stake in Wilson Wolf. The agreement includes the right to acquire the remaining ownership in Wilson Wolf for $1 billion upon its achievement of $226 million in trailing 12-month revenue or $136 million in EBITDA. If the remaining milestone is not met by December 31, 2027, Bio-Techne has the right to acquire Wilson Wolf for ~4.4x trailing 12-month revenue.
Wilson Wolf, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, is an innovative leader in the development, and manufacture of cell production technology for use in the groundbreaking healthcare field of Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT). For every potentially lifesaving CGT discovery or therapy, immune cells must be grown outside of the patient’s body. These cells are then infused into a patient to restore their capacity to fight cancer, infections, or autoimmune diseases.
Wilson Wolf’s proprietary Gas Permeable Rapid Expansion cell production products (called “G-Rex®”) are the only products that provide immune cells with the ideal amount of oxygen and nutrients as they need it, which leads to highly capable cells. G-Rex is widely regarded as the simplest and most efficient technology for the creation of immune cells and is used by over 800 CGT entities.
In 2020, Bio-Techne, Wilson Wolf and Fresenius Kabi announced the formation of the ScaleReady™ joint venture, bringing together tools and technologies for cell culture, cell activation, gene editing and cell processing. ScaleReady is empowering the field of gene therapy by delivering a simple, scalable and versatile manufacturing platform for cell and gene therapies.
“This investment represents a great step toward our eventual full ownership of Wilson Wolf,” said Chuck Kummeth, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bio-Techne. “Wilson Wolf represents a key component of our Cell and Gene Therapy strategy, and work is already underway to develop what we believe will be a one-of-a-kind CGT manufacturing system that integrates G-Rex, our GMP proteins, and T Cell media into an FDA compliant, patient ready, production process. The acquisition of Wilson Wolf, combined with our world-renowned portfolio of cell and gene therapy workflow solutions, caps 5 years of strategic investment to position Bio-Techne as a leader in tools serving this market. I am excited about Wilson Wolf’s role in simplifying and reducing the cost of manufacturing cell therapies. Wilson Wolf has been a great partner in our ongoing collaboration through ScaleReady, and we are looking forward to further strengthening the relationship upon the achievement of the remaining milestone.”
“Bio-Techne has a deep commitment to the field of CGT, expertise in creating and making products that complement G-Rex, and an entrepreneurial mindset. They are the ideal investor for Wilson Wolf to team up with to solve the biggest problem in the field, which is the enormous amount of time and money needed to establish meaningful clinical data,” said John Wilson, CEO and Founder of Wilson Wolf.
“The problem exists because there isn’t an off-the-shelf, FDA compliant, cell manufacturing process. Nearly all CGT companies are venture backed and need to obtain meaningful clinical data before they can raise more money. As companies try to create their clinical cell manufacturing process, they easily become stalled and the delay burns through precious venture money. They need to stay solvent by raising more money, forcing companies to start clinical trials with a suboptimal manufacturing process. Invariably, this comes back to haunt them and their investors,” continued Wilson.
“Each CGT company is reinventing the wheel. We have established proof of concept data that indicates most elements of each company’s manufacturing process can be standardized. We are working to prepackage these common elements into an off-the-shelf, standard G-Rex centric manufacturing process. It will be easy to operate, highly cost-effective, FDA compliant, and come with a CMC section that companies can plug into their Investigative New Drug (IND) applications,” said Wilson.
“When complete, our off-the-shelf solution, will be delivered through ScaleReady, and typically will enable CGT companies to save at least 2 years of time and millions of dollars on their path to meaningful clinical data. Based on discussions with customers, industry experts, and venture investors, we are confident that our off-the-shelf solution will become the new standard in the field of CGT,” concluded Wilson.
About Bio-Techne
Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $1.1 billion in net sales in fiscal 2022 and has approximately 3,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit http://www.bio-techne.com.
About Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH)
Contact: David Clair, Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
david.clair@bio-techne.com
612-656-4416
About Wilson Wolf
Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Wilson Wolf (www.wilsonwolf.com) was founded in 1998 to pioneer the development of innovative cell culture technologies and has created patented products and protocols for numerous applications including monoclonal antibody production, corneal transplants, porcine heart valve testing, mesenchymal cell production, and islet transplants for type 1 diabetes. Over the last 5 years, its G-Rex product line has experienced an average annual sales growth rate of nearly 100%.
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News
SCALEREADY LAUNCHES WITH THE MISSION TO REVOLUTIONIZE T CELL THERAPY MANUFACTURING
- ScaleReady is a joint venture between Bio-Techne, Fresenius Kabi, and Wilson Wolf
- ScaleReady’s mission is to make the business of cell and gene therapy practical and viable by providing the most simple, scalable and versatile manufacturing platform in the industry
- ScaleReady will provide sales, marketing, and application support for customers globally
St. Paul, MN, and Lake Zurich, IL, January 6, 2021 – ScaleReady, a joint venture between Bio-Techne (NASDAQ: TECH), Fresenius Kabi, and Wilson Wolf, launches today. The new company brings together proven tools and technologies for cell culture, cell activation, gene editing, and cell processing from its founding partners.
ScaleReady provides leading therapeutic developers with the most simple, scalable, and versatile manufacturing platform in the industry, enhancing the prospects of success for cell and gene therapy organizations. The new company will accelerate innovation in cell and gene therapy manufacturing, building on the R&D pipelines of its founding partners and through global technology partnerships with industry and academic leaders.
“ScaleReady’s mission is to accelerate the groundbreaking advances in cell and gene therapy by satisfying the longstanding need for a truly scalable, cost-effective and practical manufacturing platform,” said Adam Bryan, General Manager of ScaleReady. “It’s exciting to see the commitment that our industry-leading partners have made to this mission. Their dedication to combine resources, expertise and decades of experience, position us to make a meaningful contribution to this industry now and in the future through rapid advancement of platform technologies that lead the industry to greater efficiency, practicality and simplicity.”
Through this partnership, ScaleReady provides sales, marketing, and application support for tools and technologies used in cell and gene therapy manufacturing worldwide. Wilson Wolf’s G-Rex® cell culture technology, Fresenius Kabi’s Lovo and upcoming Cue cell processing systems, and Bio-Techne’s range of GMP proteins, reagents, media, and gene editing technologies, are all part of the ScaleReady manufacturing platform.
“With this venture, Wilson Wolf is adding tremendous wherewithal in our quest to provide the field of cell and gene therapy with a disruptive manufacturing platform that cost-effectively accelerates the delivery of potential life-saving therapies to a wide segment of society,” said John Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Wilson Wolf. “Our G-Rex technology is uniquely positioned to address the scale limitation issues facing the industry. Our partners at Bio-Techne and Fresenius Kabi share our common purpose and bring complementary technologies that will accelerate our work.”
With cell and gene therapies showing great potential for a wide range of diseases, the need for reliable and consistent raw material supply has never been more important. “At Bio-Techne, we recently opened a new large-scale GMP reagent facility, increasing manufacturing capacity for animal-free raw materials, including E. coli-derived recombinant proteins, to ensure sustainable supply for future needs.” said David Eansor, President Protein Sciences Segment, at Bio-Techne.
Dean Gregory, President Global Commercial Operations, Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapies at Fresenius Kabi added, “Cell therapies hold promise for patients and are a major area of focus for Fresenius Kabi. Through the partnership represented by ScaleReady, we will be able to make a greater contribution to this field at an accelerated pace. We are thrilled to share our expertise in automated cell processing and closed-system development to this important collaboration.”
ScaleReady is owned equally by the three partners – Bio-Techne, Fresenius Kabi, and Wilson Wolf. Separately, the three companies do business globally and have combined revenues of more than $7 billion. No other financial terms were disclosed at this time.
About ScaleReady
ScaleReady is bringing the future of cell and gene therapies to life with the most powerful and versatile manufacturing platform in the industry. ScaleReady delivers rapid expansion of T-cells at scale—reducing complexity and cost, while providing superior repeatability and cell quality. Founded in 2020, ScaleReady is a joint venture between Bio-Techne, Fresenius Kabi and Wilson Wolf that brings together tools and technologies for cell culture, cell activation, gene editing and cell processing from each founding partner. Learn more at www.scaleready.com.
About Bio-Techne
Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $739 million in net sales in fiscal 2020 and has over 2,300 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit www.bio-techne.com.
About Fresenius Kabi
Fresenius Kabi (www.fresenius-kabi.com/us) is a global health care company that specializes in medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition. The company’s products and services are used to help care for critically and chronically ill patients. The company’s U.S. headquarters is in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The company’s global headquarters is in Bad Homburg, Germany. Fresenius Kabi is part of Fresenius SE
(ETR: FRE), a global health care group with more than 305,000 employees in more than 100 countries, and annual sales exceeding $30 billion.
About Wilson Wolf
Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Wilson Wolf (www.wilsonwolf.com) was founded in 1998 to pioneer the development of innovative cell culture technologies and has created patented products and protocols for numerous applications including monoclonal antibody production, corneal transplants, porcine heart valve testing, mesenchymal cell production, and islet transplants for type 1 diabetes. Over the last 5 years, its G-Rex product line has experienced an average annual sales growth rate of nearly 100%.
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Three Industry Leaders Form New Venture to Create Scalable
Manufacturing Platforms for Cell and Gene Therapies
MIAMI, Fla., January 21, 2020 – Bio-Techne, Fresenius Kabi, and Wilson Wolf have formed a new joint venture company to provide dedicated support to researchers and biopharmaceutical companies in the field of cell and gene therapy.
The joint venture will focus on providing scalable manufacturing technologies and processes needed to develop and commercialize new cell and gene therapies. Each of the joint venture partners are contributing best-in-class products and unique expertise to the new venture.
Each company in the joint venture has been working independently for years to develop technology that helps advance the manufacturing efficiency of cell and gene therapies. Consolidating these technologies and competencies is designed to establish the foundation of a superior manufacturing platform. Wilson Wolf’s patented G-Rex® technology is specifically designed as a scalable and practical platform for generation of personalized cell therapies. Bio-Techne’s broad range of proteins, reagents, media, and gene-editing technologies are designed to activate, reprogram, and stimulate cell growth. Fresenius Kabi’s Lovo® cell processing system washes, concentrates, and harvests cells at a scale needed to develop and commercialize cell and gene therapies.
Over the next decade, cell and gene therapies are poised to make groundbreaking improvements in health care on a worldwide basis. The joint venture intends to be integrally involved by continuing to create and provide leading manufacturing technologies that keep pace with this rapidly expanding field and enable it to reach its full potential. There is a critical unmet need for better manufacturing solutions, because cell and gene therapies are often patient-specific. For example, T-Cell therapies for cancer involve collecting white blood cells, genetically modifying them to attack cancer cells, and reinfusing them to the patient. Given the size of the patient population that could benefit from these potentially curative treatments, efficient and scalable manufacturing is essential.
The joint venture, which has yet to be named, is attending and presenting at Phacilitate, a global event focused on advanced cell and gene therapy research and commercialization, taking place January 21-24, 2020, in Miami. #PLW2020 #WSCS20
The joint venture is owned equally by the three partners – Bio-Techne, Fresenius Kabi and Wilson Wolf.
Bio-Techne
“Bio-Techne’s leading portfolio of reagents and technologies for cell and gene therapy workflow include non-viral methods for gene editing, assay platforms for in-process and finished product testing as well as the highest quality GMP reagents. We are currently expanding our reagent production capabilities with the construction of a state of the art, high-capacity GMP reagent production facility, which will further differentiate our collective offering,” said Chuck Kummeth, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bio-Techne. “This partnership creates the most cost-effective, scalable and reproducible solution, reducing bottlenecks in the current cell and gene therapy workflow and enabling broader adoption of these therapies. Each of the three companies brings a unique skillset and product portfolio to the venture as well as a commitment to best-in-class sales and customer support, creating significant and lasting value in an industry poised to disrupt cancer treatment and benefit patients worldwide.”
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) (www.bio-techne.com) is a leading developer and manufacturer of high-quality purified proteins and reagent solutions – notably cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, immunoassays, biologically active small molecule compounds, tissue culture reagents, and cell and gene therapy workflow solutions including T-Cell activation technologies. Bio-Techne products are integral components of scientific investigations into biological processes and molecular diagnostics, revealing the nature, diagnosis, etiology and progression of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $714 million in net sales in fiscal 2019 and has over 2,200 employees worldwide.
Fresenius Kabi
“Fresenius Kabi brings special expertise in medicines as well as technologies to this venture, in addition to a global network of science and manufacturing,” said Dr. Christian Hauer, member of the Management Board of Fresenius Kabi and president of the company’s Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapies Division. “Advances in science are now enabling us to harness the power of patients’ own cells to treat, and perhaps even cure, cancers. This venture brings together best-in-class companies and technologies to create a single source for best-in-class solutions for scientists and, ultimately, patients.”
Fresenius Kabi (www.fresenius-kabi.com/us) is a global health care company that specializes in medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition. The company’s products and services are used to help care for critically and chronically ill patients. The company’s U.S. headquarters is in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The company’s global headquarters is in Bad Homburg, Germany. Fresenius Kabi is part of Fresenius SE (ETR: FRE), a global health care group with more than 290,000 employees in more than 100 countries, and annual sales exceeding $30 billion.
Wilson Wolf
“Wilson Wolf’s G-Rex® technology for cell therapy is a practical, efficient, and scalable platform designed specifically to increase the quantity and quality of immune cells,” said John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Wolf. “G-Rex® is particularly well suited to interface with the products of Bio-Techne and Fresenius Kabi. The opportunity ahead of us is to deliver a disruptive manufacturing platform that cost-effectively accelerates the delivery of life saving therapies to a wide segment of society.”
Based in St Paul, Minnesota, Wilson Wolf (www.wilsonwolf.com) was founded in 1998 to pioneer the development of innovative cell culture technologies and has created patented products and protocols for numerous applications including monoclonal antibody production, corneal transplants, porcine heart valve testing, mesenchymal cell production, and islet transplants for type 1 diabetes. Over the last 5 years, its G-Rex product line has experienced an average annual sales growth rate of nearly 100%.
MEDIA AND INVESTOR CONTACTS
Bio-Techne
David Clair, +1 612-656-4416
david.clair@biotechne.com
Fresenius Kabi
Matt Kuhn, +1 847-550-5751
matt.kuhn@fresenius-kabi.com
Wilson Wolf
John Wilson, +1 651-628-9259
john.wilson@wilsonwolf.com
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COVID-19 Customer Notice
March 18, 2020
Dear Wilson Wolf Customer,
The entire team at Wilson Wolf wishes to express our sincere hope that the people in your organization, their families, friends, and communities remain in good health as the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic unfold.
We have tremendous respect for the work that is being undertaken in the cell therapy community. We are especially grateful that our products are useful in your many contributions toward improving the state of healthcare for those afflicted with horrible and debilitating diseases.
For those of you that are reliant on our products, we want you to know that Wilson Wolf has taken strong proactive measures to ensure that you can obtain products in the timely manner that you have become accustomed to. Our goal is to make certain that your capacity to advance your mission goes undiminished.
Currently, we have an ample inventory position of all products and are moving forward with full production capacity while simultaneously using best practices to ensure the safety of our personnel. Our daily production out put remains undiminished and our stringent adherence to best practices is intended to keep it that way. If circumstances change, we will keep you informed.
If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us at info@wilsonwolf.com and we will respond quickly to make sure you are able to plan your work accordingly.
Sincerely,
John Wilson
CEO
Wilson Wolf Manufacturing Corporation
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Official Notices
Customer Notice: Facility Move | Dated: 1/6/2020
We are excited to announce that Wilson Wolf is moving to a new and much larger location March 27th, 2020, which greatly expands our G-Rex production capacity. We will continue to provide the same high level of quality products and technical support that you have come to rely on. Our move will allow Wilson Wolf to offer an even larger selection of products soon, while also ensuring off-the-shelf product availability as your organization scales up and scales out with patient demand. As the manufacturer of G-Rex products, we realize continuity of supply is of the utmost importance to our end users and so we are taking measures to ensure a smooth transition. Qualification for production at the new site is underway.
The following products will be manufactured at the new location after March 27th, 2020:
– G-Rex24 well plates, #80192M
– G-Rex6 well plates, #80240M
– G-Rex6M well plates, #80660M
– G-Rex5M, #80055S
– G-Rex10, #80040S
– G-Rex10M, #80110S
– G-Rex10M-CS, #80110S-CS
– G-Rex500M, #85500S
– G-Rex500M-CS, #85500S-CS
– EZ Flask, #81000
G-Rex100 series products (G-Rex100, #80500; G-Rex100M, #81100; G-Rex100M-CS, #81100-CS) will have no change to current manufacturing operations. Our phone number and email address are still the same: +1.651.628.9259, info@wilsonwolf.com.