On 2 April 2019, Lonza, a leading pharma contract

manufacturing company, and Chr. Hansen, a leading global bioscience company,

announced that they have signed an agreement to establish a 50/50 joint venture

to pioneer the live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) industry and position

themselves as the leading contract development and manufacturing partner (CDMO)

for biotech and pharma customers. The joint venture brings together

best-in-class, complementary capabilities and will be the first CDMO globally

to provide a full supply chain that offers manufacturing of bacteria strains

for therapeutic use. The joint venture will be a 50/50 controlled legal

entity that will operate from its headquarters in Basel (CH) and have

production facilities in Denmark and Switzerland. A phased investment of

approximately EUR 90 million will be deployed over three years to build

cGMP-compliant pharma production capabilities. The joint venture will upgrade

existing facilities in Hørsholm (DK) and equip new facilities in Basel (CH) to

serve pre-clinical to phase II projects. Further facilities for phase III and

commercial manufacturing will be developed as the pipeline matures. The joint venture

is expected to be largely self-funding after the production set-up has been

established.

Bär & Karrer acts as legal advisor to Lonza. The

team includes Urs Kägi, Nadina Duss, Michael Bänziger, Matthias Tanner (all

M&A/Corporate and Commercial) and Markus Wang (IP).

On 2 April 2019, Lonza, a leading pharma contract

manufacturing company, and Chr. Hansen, a leading global bioscience company,

announced that they have signed an agreement to establish a 50/50 joint venture

to pioneer the live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) industry and position

themselves as the leading contract development and manufacturing partner (CDMO)

for biotech and pharma customers. The joint venture brings together

best-in-class, complementary capabilities and will be the first CDMO globally

to provide a full supply chain that offers manufacturing of bacteria strains

for therapeutic use. The joint venture will be a 50/50 controlled legal

entity that will operate from its headquarters in Basel (CH) and have

production facilities in Denmark and Switzerland. A phased investment of

approximately EUR 90 million will be deployed over three years to build

cGMP-compliant pharma production capabilities. The joint venture will upgrade

existing facilities in Hørsholm (DK) and equip new facilities in Basel (CH) to

serve pre-clinical to phase II projects. Further facilities for phase III and

commercial manufacturing will be developed as the pipeline matures. The joint venture

is expected to be largely self-funding after the production set-up has been

established.

Bär & Karrer acts as legal advisor to Lonza. The

team includes Urs Kägi, Nadina Duss, Michael Bänziger, Matthias Tanner (all

M&A/Corporate and Commercial) and Markus Wang (IP).