Curia to buy fellow CDMO Integrity Bio

Acquisition will add West Coast coverage to the CDMO's East Coast and European capabilities and enhance its biologics formulation development and fill-finish network

Integrity Bio, which is headquartered in Camarillo, California, specialises in hard-to-formulate biologics and fill-finish of unique therapies in preclinical and clinical development, supporting customers ranging from global Fortune 500 companies to small virtual startups.

The transaction, which is subject to standard and customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. 

Each year, Integrity Bio formulates approximately 60+ large molecules, including proteins, antibodies, lipid nanoparticles, peptides and vaccines in liquid and lyophilised form.

To keep pace with customer demand, it more than doubled its manufacturing capacity by including a second fill-finish line last September. The extra capacity also allowed Integrity Bio to prioritise COVID-19 projects.

The acquisition adds West Coast coverage to the CDMO's East Coast and European capabilities, and will complement Curia's existing business, which currently provides customers with integrated solutions from formulation development through fill-finish commercial manufacturing across three facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Burlington, Massachusetts and Glasgow, Scotland.

According to Curia, the company's new name is to reinforce its positioning as a CDMO from R&D through to commercial manufacturing in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. “Curia” is derived from a Latin word that means purposeful assembly.