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Mergers and Acquisitions

Date: 2017-04-11

Type of information: Company acquisition

Acquired company: Asymptote (UK)

Acquiring company: GE Healthcare (USA - WI)

Amount: undisclosed

Terms: • On April 11, 2017, GE Healthcare has acquired Asymptote, specialists in cryochain technology for sensitive cellular therapies. Asymptote’s integrated suite of cryochain hardware, software and consumables are designed to maintain the potency of cellular therapies enabling ultra-low temperature freezing during production, all the way to thawing at the clinic prior to administering to patients.

Details: The acquisition of Asymptote fills a gap in GE Healthcare’s end-to-end ecosystem of products and services for cell therapy production. The UK-based Asymptote makes pioneering technologies that challenge standard cell cryopreservation and thawing practices and support cGMP.  Its VIA Freeze™ range delivers liquid nitrogen-free cryopreservation and, soon-to-be released, VIA Thaw™ series that thaws deeply frozen cells by a dry conduction (water-free) process. The Cryochain software platform synchronizes with the VIA Freeze and VIA Thaw products to standardize freezing and thawing programs across multiple sites, thereby giving improved visibility of remote processes. This web-based platform supports cell therapy companies to scale their cryopreservation and thawing processes with ease. During the past year, GE has already announced significant investments in the field of cell therapy and regenerative medicine, including the acquisition of Biosafe SA, a supplier of integrated cell bioprocessing systems, Vitruvian Networks, a GE Ventures and Mayo Clinic collaboration, providing cloud-based software systems and manufacturing services for cell and gene therapies and BridGE@CCRM Cell Therapy Centre of Excellence, a US $31.5 million co-investment with the Canadian Government to promote new technologies for the production of cellular therapies in Toronto.  

Related: Technology - Services

Is general: Yes