Expedeon and Abcam close transaction

HEIDELBERG, Germany & CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Expedeon AG recently announced the closing of an agreement with Abcam plc for the sale of Expedeon’s proteomics and immunology business, as announced on Nov. 11, 2019, and as approved by the extraordinary shareholder meeting held a little over a month later. The closing triggers a payment of €120 million by Abcam to Expedeon. Consequently, Expedeon AG also moved to change its company name to 4basebio AG.

“We are now commencing a new chapter in the company's development with a new name, a new business focus and excellent funding resulting from this transaction. Referring to the four base building blocks of all genetic material, the new company name 4basebio AG reflects our new DNA-based business focus. We will also continue with our successful buy-and-build strategy,” said Dr. Heikki Lanckriet, CEO of the company.

Under its future name 4basebio, Expedeon will focus activities in the field of genomics, building on the expertise in its Spanish business unit, Expedeon S.L.U. in Madrid. The company will focus on DNA manufacturing to supply DNA products for therapeutic and other uses requiring large amounts of high-purity DNA, such as the fast-growing market of novel gene therapies and gene vaccines.

Reportedly, the high need for DNA caused by wide adoption of gene therapies and gene vaccines will likely drive the synthetic biology market to $38.7 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 44.2 percent. Besides DNA manufacturing, 4basebio aims to provide research and diagnostic products based on its RNA reverse transcriptase, DNA polymerase and DNA primase enzymes, addressing the research tools and diagnostic products markets.