Tokyo, Japan 3/19/18; Santa Ana, CA 3/29/18—Fujifilm has agreed to purchase Irvine Scientific Sales and IS JAPAN from JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy for $800 million in stock. Irvine Scientific and IS JAPAN provide cell culture media and products to the biopharmaceutical, cell therapy and medical markets. Fujifilm commented in its press release, “With the acquisition of ISUS and ISJ, Fujifilm will now be able to provide a broad product portfolio from biopharmaceuticals to in vitro fertilization and cell therapy, strengthening its global business.” Fujifilm stated that it expects to benefit from the acquired companies’ synergies with its biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing business, research and production in the area of regenerative medicine, and its reagent business.

Later this year, Fujifilm plans to open a new site in Boston, Massachusetts, to support research and manufacturing of new drugs. The site will also support its FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) and Wako Pure Chemical businesses, as well as the newly acquired businesses. These businesses will also maintain their existing US sites. Effective April 1, CDI will be renamed Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics and Wako Pure Chemical will become Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical.

Irvine Scientific and IS JAPAN together have 350 employees, according to a spokesperson for Irvine Scientific. Key Irvine Scientific product lines, according to her, include BalanCD chemically defined media for bioproduction, the PRIME-XV product portfolio for stem cell culture and immunotherapy, and a range of products for assisted reproductive therapy, including the Vit Kit and Continuous Single Culture brands. “The company is also considered a leading expert on media development, optimization and manufacturing services,” she told IBO. 

Fujifilm entered the cell culture–media reagent market last year with its purchase of reagent supplier Wako Pure Chemical (see IBO 12/31/16). That purchase along with Fujifilm’s acquisitions of CDI (see IBO 3/31/15), which provided the firm expertise in iPSC preparation, and of J-TEC, which added technology for somatic stem cell culturing, has strengthened the company’s capabilities in cells, cell culture media and cytokines, and scaffolds, according to Fujifilm, in order to build its Regenerative Medicine business. The latest purchase bolsters distribution, R&D and QC for cell culture media, according to Fujifilm. Regenerative Medicine, Pharmaceuticals and Bio CDMO, Medical Science and Life Science units make up Fujifilm’s Healthcare business.