NEW YORK (360DX) – French in vitro diagnostic firm Eurobio Scientific announced on Monday the acquisition of antibody development and production company Dendritics, also French, for undisclosed terms.
The deal was completed in cash with "no significant impact" on Eurobio's cash position, according to the firm.
Based in Lyon, Dendritics develops antibodies against immune system and other cells for the discovery of targets with high diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic potential. The company posted about €350,000 ($410,000) in revenues in 2017, Eurobio said.
Eurobio plans to build on Dendritics' US sales and to develop its distribution network in the US, the firm said in a statement.
"This merger allows Eurobio Scientific to strengthen its production activities by offering custom antibody manufacturing services as well as an extensive portfolio of proprietary monoclonal antibodies," Eurobio's Chairman of the scientific management board, Jean-Michel Carle, said in a statement. "By using the innovative technology of Dendritics, we will also be able to develop new proprietary products, particularly in the field of diagnostics."
Eurobio owns proprietary products in four specialty areas — transplantation, infectious diseases, life sciences, and cancer. This includes a license to commercialize CareDx's AlloMap molecular test for the surveillance of heart transplant patients, according to Eurobio's website.
Its commercial affiliate, Eurobio Ingen, distributes IVD products in its territory and markets specialty diagnostic tests to public and private clinical laboratories.
Eurobio Scientific has approximately 120 employees and two production units in the Paris region and the US.
Dendritics, which has six staff members, was founded in 2005 by former Schering Plough employees. Its technology, called Human Blood B Booster, makes it possible to activate about 40 percent of B lymphocytes, covering the entire adaptive immune system, the company said in a statement, adding that HuBBB can immortalize circulating blood B cells, which are sources of human monoclonal antibodies.