Tosoh Corporation Invests in Semba Biosciences, Inc.

Tokyo, Japan—Tosoh Corporation underwrote a capital increase for and acquired a stake in life science supply company Semba Biosciences, Inc. (Semba), to strengthen and expand its bioscience business. Through this investment, Tosoh will strengthen its collaboration with Semba to not only build synergies with its TOYOPEARL® liquid chromatography separation and purification media business, but also to further expand to related fields, thereby moving towards its goal of becoming a total solutions provider in the biopharmaceutical purification field. The investment was made through Tosoh Bioscience LLC, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Tosoh Corporation.

In 2009, Semba took its Octave® Chromatography System—the world’s first bench-top continuous SMB chromatography1 system—to market. It has since introduced a multicolumn continuous chromatography platform for biopharmaceutical development, ProPD™, and aims to launch ProGMP™, its continuous chromatography platform for GMP-compliant, single-use manufacturing.

Biopharmaceuticals are experiencing significant market growth, but their development and manufacture still generally relies on batch processing in the purification process. Devising a process with the flexibility to respond to fluctuations in demand and to maintain high productivity is imperative. Continuous chromatography is attracting attention as it can overcome traditional limitations of the conventional batch processing method, namely for its high productivity and low costs. The US Food and Drug Administration, in fact, is recommending that pharmaceutical manufacturers adopt continuous processing and as such, these technologies are forecast to grow in demand.

1 Continuous SMB chromatography is a method of liquid chromatography through which the adsorption, elution, and column-cleaning processes can be accomplished continuously and in parallel. This is made possible by the combination of multiple columns and automatic control through valve operation of the flow of the sample, wash, eluent, cleaning, and equilibration solutions.

Semba Biosciences, Inc.

Location: Madison, Wisconsin (USA)
Established: May 2005
Tosoh Group investment ratio: 33.3% (a fully diluted basis)
Business: Manufacture and sale of continuous SMB chromatography equipment and bio-related reagents.

TOSOH BIOSCIENCE LLC

Tosoh Bioscience LLC provides liquid chromatography products to laboratories and manufacturing plants in the Americas. While the majority of our customers work in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, our U/HPLC columns and systems are essential tools for sample analysis in most industries. Our all-in-one dedicated GPC system, the EcoSEC GPC System, is predominantly used in the chemical and polymer industries while our EcoSEC High Temperature GPC System is ideal for the polyolefin and oil industries. In the field of biotechnology, our preparative chromatography resins play a critical role in the purification of proteins and nucleic acids for medical purposes.

The company is a subsidiary of Tosoh Corporation in Japan, the parent of the Tosoh Group, which comprises over 100 companies worldwide and a multiethnic workforce of over 12,000 people and generated sales of ¥822.9 billion (US $7.4 billion at the average rate of ¥100.85 to the US dollar) in fiscal 2018, ended March 31, 2018.


TOSOH CORPORATION

Who We Are

Tosoh is the parent of the Tosoh Group, which comprises over 100 companies worldwide and a multiethnic workforce of over 12,000 people and generated net sales of ¥822.9 billion (US$7.4 billion at the average rate of ¥110.85 to the US dollar) in fiscal 2018, ended March 31, 2018.

What We Do

Tosoh is one of the largest chlor-alkali manufacturers in Asia. The company supplies the plastic resins and an array of the basic chemicals that support modern life. Tosoh’s petrochemical operations supply ethylene, polyethylene, and functional polymers, while its advanced materials business serves the global semiconductor, display, and solar industries. Tosoh has also pioneered sophisticated bioscience systems that are used for the monitoring of life-threatening diseases. In addition, Tosoh demonstrates its commitment to a sustainable future in part by manufacturing a variety of eco-products.

Stock Exchange Ticker Symbol: 4042

Disclaimer

This document may contain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements concerning product development, objectives, goals, and commercial introductions, which involve certain risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are identified through the use of the word anticipates and other words of similar meaning. Actual results may differ significantly from the results expressed in forward-looking statements.

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