Taiwanese contract development and manufacturing organization Bora will purchase Minnesota-based Upsher-Smith Laboratories, expanding operations into the U.S. for the first time.
Pictured: A line of vials to hold injectable medicines/iStock, FX Rangga Yudhistira
Taiwanese manufacturer Bora Pharmaceuticals is making another move into North America, with a $210 million acquisition of Minnesota-based generics producer Upsher-Smith Laboratories.
The deal will give Bora access to two manufacturing facilities, products, packaging capabilities, as well as a first-time presence in the U.S. market. According to Bora, the acquisition was secured from Upsher-Smith’s shareholders, which included Sumitomo Corporation of Americas and Sawai Group Holdings.
Upsher-Smith has been in operation since 1919 and has been owned by Sawai since 2017. The company manufactures around 48 generic medicines in oral solid, liquid, and powder forms and produces products such as morphine, potassium chloride, and testosterone, among many others. The company also maintains Plymouth and Maple Grove, Minnesota manufacturing facilities, as well as an office in Morristown, New Jersey.
“This is a significant milestone for Bora Group, marking the most critical expansion of Bora’s presence in the U.S. market and significantly enhancing Bora’s position as a global competitor with regard to its CDMO business and commercial Rx business,” said Bora Group CEO Bobby Sheng in a statement.
“Upsher-Smith’s competitiveness is a perfect match to Bora’s long-term growth—its newly-expanded, U.S. FDA-approved manufacturing facilities, with a total capacity of 3.5 billion doses, will be Bora’s first local facility in the U.S., establishing a crucial stronghold for our global CDMO business,” Sheng added.
Bora has been seeking to make more inroads into the North American market. In 2020, the company capped off the acquisition of GSK’s manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ontario, giving it its first presence in North America. Bora also has a supply agreement with the UK-based pharmaceutical company. The site also serves as its North American headquarters. The Mississauga site allows the company to manufacture around 50 products.
In 2021, Bora inked a partnership with Taishin Healthcare Limited Partnership, in which both companies pledged to commit up to $108 million to expand the investment into CDMOs and pursue a broader merger and acquisition strategy.
The contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) industry has been seeing more M&A activity lately. In November 2023, Ohio-based Forge Biologics was acquired by the Japanese conglomerate Ajinomoto for over $600 million.
The CDMO industry saw some headwinds last year as a shift away from COVID-related production and fewer dollars going towards R&D took its toll on some of the more prominent manufacturers. However, analysts told BioSpace that some signs of recovery could be on the horizon in 2024.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
