Seqens gets things in order
After merging with Wavelength Pharmaceuticals , Seqens has become a big player among pharmaceutical CDMOs . We talked to the company about its new look
The rapidly evolving pharmaceutical CDMO sector saw a landmark development for one of its major players in December 2021 , when a deal was completed under which SK Capital became the majority shareholder of Seqens , the successor to PCAS . SK ’ s existing subsidiary Wavelength Pharmaceuticals became part of the group as a result . Two new long-term institutional investors , Bpifrance and Nov Santé , took part in the transaction , while minority shareholders , Mérieux Equity Partners , Ardian and Eximium , also reinvested . Finally , Seqens divested its non-core sodium bicarbonate , soda ash and sodium silicate production facilities in France and Singapore to Eurazeo and its other previous shareholders . As a result , Seqens said at the time , it “ is now emerging stronger
No overlap between Seqens and Wavelength portfolios and more focused , positioned as one of the world ’ s leading players in pharmaceutical solutions and specialty ingredients ”. It has revenues of € 1.1 billion / year , 24 industrial sites , ten R & D centres and 3,200 employees on three continents . Key platforms include custom polymers , lipids , flow chemistry , high potency APIs and biocatalysis . This followed years of investment and the company is keen to stress that plans were in place before the change of ownership took place . Much of that investment took place in 2020-21 .
On the same Wavelength
Wavelength itself is a backwardintegrated developer and manufacturer of APIs . Based in Petah Tikva , Israel , with some 630 tonnes / year commercial manufacturing capacity in India , it already had over 280 customers in 50 countries and offered a full-spectrum of CDMO services from pre-clinical grams to multi-tonne commercial scale . So what has Wavelength brought to the company that it lacked before ? Philippe Clavel , vice president for Innovative & Generic Pharmaceuticals at Seqens , says that Wavelength was mainly focused on generic APIs and added about 35 of these to the portfolio , including some large-volume APIs like tramadol , ceterizine and fexophenadine , plus some lower volume ones like inhaled corticosteroids .
Reactor at the Villeneuve-la-Garenne site
22 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981