AMW owners sell up to YF Capital and Hybio Pharma

16-Jul-2018 - Last updated on 16-Jul-2018 at 13:22 GMT

(Image: Pixabay/SW1994)

YF Capital, led by Alibaba co-founder, Jack Ma, and Hybio Pharmaceutical have led the acquisition of AMW, a developer of drug delivery systems.

The financials behind the deal were not revealed but the deal will see Yungfeng Capital and Hybio Pharmaceutical acquire Arzneimittelwerk Warngau (AMW) and its subsidiary Endomedica GmbH, both of these businesses are based in Germany.

AMW has only been existence since 2008, and has focused on developing transdermal drug delivery systems and subcutaneous sustained-release implants.

The company counts goserelin and leuprorelin hormone-release implants, used to treat breast and prostate cancer, amongst other indications, as part of its product portfolio. In addition, it also sells buprenorphine and rivastigmin patches.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision to sell to YF Capital and Hybio, Bernhard Schirmers, managing partner at AMW-founding investor SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement, replied to a request for comment by stating: “China will be the second largest pharma market worldwide in the near future. AMW has a lot of attractive products to offer. However, to successfully enter this market you need to have the equivalent resources – these are provided by Hybio and YF Capital”.

In addition to opening up the Chinese market, Philipp Karbach, director finance of AMW, noted that it would also allow the company to expand beyond Europe into the US. He also added that the company “will expand its product pipeline by making use of the drug delivery technology – patches, implants, rings”, as part of a strategy to add new products and an R&D pipeline to the company.

China’s growing pharma reach

It’s no secret that China is a rapidly developing market for pharmaceuticals and companies based in the country are now expanding their reach into Europe and the US.

The decision by YF Capital and Hybio Pharmaceutical gives it two bases in Germany to expand from; however, Sam Chen, vice president of business development at Hybio, detailed that this was not the primary reason for the deal taking place: “We view this acquisition first as an expansion to a new pharmaceutical delivery technology platform, an expansion to the Germany location is a secondary consideration. We believe AMW and Wilfried Fischer's [MD of AMW] pioneering work in improving the pharmaceutical delivery technology could help us develop more advanced peptide pharmaceuticals, hence maximising Hybio's contributions to the healthcare industry worldwide, including Germany”.