Japanese Stem Cell Firm Acquires Scottish Drug Discovery Support Company

In order to facilitate its move into the drug discovery industry, a Japanese stem cell technology company has acquired a Scottish biotechnology company that provides highly characterized human tissues for pharmaceutical development studies.

The Japanese regenerative medicine company ReproCELL Inc. (Yokohama, Japan) has announced the acquisition of the Scottish life sciences company, Biopta (Glasgow, United Kingdom). The purchase agreement will see ReproCELL acquire 100% of Biopta.

ReproCELL was established in 2003 and has become a leader in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine, with the goal of contributing to people’s health and welfare through the development of stem cell technologies. Biopta was founded in 2002 with the aim of addressing the high failure rate of drugs during clinical trials through the use of ethically-sourced human tissues. The use of human tissues is considered more predictive of human responses to medicines than animal experiments and is part of a growing move by the pharmaceutical industry towards “non-animal alternatives.”

The acquisition of Biopta and its US subsidiary, Biopta Inc. is expected to be finalized in December 2015 and is aimed at strengthening ReproCELL’s pharmaceutical industry-targeted drug discovery services. The acquisition will also see an immediate investment to expand Biopta’s range of contract research services. Biopta, which will continue to operate from its headquarters in Glasgow, United Kingdom, aims to grow its workforce to 30 over the next three years.

Dr. David Bunton, CEO of Biopta, said, “The acquisition by ReproCELL is a great opportunity to build on the solid platform we have in outsourced drug discovery services. Scotland is known for the quality of its scientists and customer service and ReproCELL’s investment recognizes these strengths. We have had a close partnership with BioServe, another ReproCELL Group company, for the past five years, which has helped us establish a very successful US subsidiary. We see the acquisition as the natural next step in the growth of the UK and US businesses.”

Dr. Chikafumi Yokoyama, CEO of ReproCELL, said, “This will allow our company to increase our market share by expanding our lineup of drug discovery support products aimed at the pharmaceutical industry and accelerate the development of ReproCELL’s new products and services.”

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