KPMG has been conducting business for Angel Biotechnology Holdings (ABH) – consisting of Angel Biotech and Angel Biomedical – since last month’s announcement the Scottish CMO had gone into administration due to cash flow difficulties. Now the Biomedical subsidiary, formed when ABH purchased a collagen manufacturing facility last year, has become the first asset to be sold-off.
Alex Clarkson of Diagnostic Capital, the life science financiers behind the formation of Collbio Limited, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com the“purpose of the acquisition was to enter the collagen market” and with the 6,500 sq ft facility in Glasgow, UK, Collbio is in prime position to capitalize on this industry.
Stewart White, CEO of Collbio told us “Angel entered the collagen market last year” and with ABH’s financial issues “the opportunity” arose for Diagnostics Capital to takeover and acquire a hold in the industry.
White added the supply of collagen is "worth at least $4bn” with “double digit growth” expected as demand from the drug and medical device sectors continues to increase.
He went on to say that Collbio would be inheriting the collagen manufacturing contract Angel landed last year with US-based Cardium Therapeutics – which uses the ingredient in its diabetic ulcer treatment Excellagen – and added that this “was a good example of the growing market, with obesity and diabetes rising as well as people living longer.”
Angel Biomedical had no other contracts penned but White said Collbio was in early stage conversations with a number of potential clients.
Further Assets to be Sold
The acquisition by Collbio will not include the GMP standard Cramlington facility which, following a turbulent few years, is being put up for sale separately.
The site near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK, was decommissioned by Angel in in 2007 and then resurrected two years later after the company secured a fifteen year lease on the facility.
However, Campbell Hart from the PR company BigPartnership said “the plant was mothballed some time ago and has not been in operation since KPMG were appointed” and would shortly be “put up for auction.”
Materia Medica Holdings
Materia Medica Holdings (MMH) has been working with Angel since 2011 when plans were drawn up to add 230 sq m of manufacturing space and a 93 sq m non-GMP laboratory to the Cramlington site, dedicated to the contract development and production of drugs for the Russian company.
However, Speaking with Outsourcing-Pharma.com Daniil Epstein, MMH Deputy General Director confirmed that before the company went into administration manufacturing had refocused to ABH’s Edinburgh facility.
Regarding the fall of Angel, Epstein expressed “great surprise to see ABH going into administration, especially when the Heads of Terms between ABH and [MMH] were aligned.”
MMH, along with another international consortium, was in discussions “essential to the ongoing viability of the Company” according to Non-Executive Chairman of ABH Nicholas Smith. The ventures collapsed leading to a suspension of trading in the company.
Epstein would not divulge when asked whether or not MMH would be interested in any of ABH’s other assets.