Pharma: Up to 750 million: Fresenius buys biopharma subsidiary whole

German health conglomerate Fresenius is purchasing its biopharma subsidiary, mAbxience, completely, bolstering its business in biosimilar drugs. For the remaining 45% stake, the DAX company will pay up to 750 million euros, as announced in Bad Homburg. The seller companies are Insud and Invim. According to the report, the contract was signed and completed on Wednesday.

Regulatory approvals were not necessary. The purchase price includes a condition: Fresenius will only pay 50 million euros if certain production sites receive approval. The conglomerate had already entered into a 55% stake in mAbxience in August 2022. The complete takeover strengthens Fresenius' access to the rapidly growing biosimilars market, which produces biotechnologically manufactured medicines for patented drugs whose patent has expired.

As healthcare systems worldwide face financial pressure, cost-effective generic drugs are crucial for patient care. Fresenius stated that future protection for numerous biological medicines will end. "This rapidly growing market is expected to more than double in value by 2035 to over 180 billion euros," said Fresenius CEO Michael Sen. "The completion of the acquisition of mAbxience marks the next milestone in building a leading, vertically integrated biopharma business of significant size."

Fresenius' biosimilars platform is now fully bundled within the biopharma business of Fresenius Kabi, covering the entire value chain from development to marketing. Fresenius had invested in mAbxience for the first time four years ago when the market potential was substantial and the biosimilars market was in an early stage, according to the report.