BOCA RATON, FLORIDA, September 11, 2019 —Arcline Investment Management (“Arcline”), a growth oriented private equity firm with $1.5 billion of capital under management, today announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Akron Biotechnology LLC (“Akron” or “The Company”). Akron will continue to be led by Claudia Zylberberg, PhD, the Company’s founder and CEO and a member of its Board of Directors.
Founded in 2006, Akron is a leading supplier of cGMP-compliant products and services critical for the production of advanced therapy medicinal products, including cell therapies, gene therapies and engineered tissues. Akron offers a variety of cGMP products, including cytokines and growth factors, cryopreservation solutions, and cell culture media supplements. Its service offerings include recombinant protein development, fill & finish, scaffold fabrication, and media development. Akron supplies many of the largest, fastest-growing, and most well-known therapeutics companies in the industry.
“We recognize that the cell and gene therapy industry has reached a critical juncture. With so many therapy developers progressing through advanced stages of clinical development, the demand for cGMP-grade materials will increase dramatically in the near future. We are delighted to partner with Arcline to substantially expand Akron’s capacity to meet this growing demand for the benefit of the entire regenerative medicine industry and the patients it serves,” Dr. Zylberberg said.
Arcline commented, “We are pleased to partner with the Akron team. Our long-term alliance with the Company once again demonstrates Arcline’s steadfast commitment to the emergent regenerative medicine industry. Given its focus on upstream cGMP solutions, Akron is an ideal platform investment opportunity in the cell and gene therapy space.”
Arcline plans to work with the Akron team to organically build out its capabilities and pursue targeted complementary acquisitions within the cell and gene therapy manufacturing tools, ancillary materials and services continuum. Areas of interest include downstream technologies such as testing, quality control, purification, and fill & finish in addition to product categories such as disposables, human primary cells, viral/non-viral transduction, plasmid DNA, and clinical grade tools for CRISPR gene editing.
Dark Horse Consulting Group, the leading global consultancy practice specializing in cell and gene therapy product development, provided advice and assistance to Arcline in connection with the investment. Arcline formed a strategic partnership with Dark Horse Consulting Group in July 2019.
