Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB), a leading international pharmaceutical and biotech supplier, has announced a substantial expansion of its product array in the cell culture range

The company signed a cooperation agreement with the Swiss-based life science group Lonza on long-term, global collaboration in the field of cell culture media. Cell culture media are growth substances and nutrients for cells or microorganisms and are required in every biopharmaceutical manufacturing process.

The cooperation agreement provides that SSB will assume global sales and marketing of Lonza’s media and buffers used in the manufacture of protein-based therapeutics and vaccines, while Lonza will continue to carry out development, manufacture and logistics operations for these products. New product development will be mutually performed. The cell culture media, which are usually sold in liquid or powder form to biopharmaceutical customers, are to be successively converted to packaged forms as ready-to-use, prefilled SSB sterile single-use bags. Furthermore, Lonza and SSB have agreed that these cell culture media will be sold under both brands in a co-branding arrangement.

In fiscal 2011, Lonza generated revenue of around 20 million euros with its cell culture media business. SSB will take over Lonza’s commercial team of approximately 15 media specialists. Both parties have agreed not to disclose further contractual conditions.

Lonza’s cell culture media represent an ideal fit with the portfolio of products supplied by Sartorius Stedim Biotech, which already offers bioreactors and single-use bags and containers as key components for cell cultivation. “I am very pleased that we will now be adding a market-leading, high-quality array of media and buffers to our product offering,” commented SSB’s Member of the Board of Directors, Reinhard Vogt. “Just like our single-use bags and bioreactors, culture media are critical to the success of safe and efficient manufacture of drug materials. The demand for ready-to-use and innovative products is accordingly high. In the manufacture of biologicals, our customers will benefit from obtaining fully integrated single-use solutions for their entire cell culture process all from a single source.”

“For Lonza this agreement provides great upside potential as it will allow us to capture additional value from our Media Business in the form of additional revenue leading to higher capacity utilization”, comments Lukas Utiger, COO of Lonza Bioscience. “Lonza and Sartorius are a great fit as both partners bring complementary strengths to the benefit of our customers.”

About Lonza

Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science industries. Products and services span its customers’ needs from research to final product manufacture. It is the global leader in the production and support of chemical and biological active pharmaceutical ingredients. Biopharmaceuticals are one of the key growth drivers of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Lonza has strong capabilities in large and small molecules, peptides, amino acids and niche bioproducts which play an important role in the development of novel medicines and healthcare products. Lonza is also the world leader in microbial control providing innovative, chemistry-based and related solutions to destroy or to selectively inhibit the growth of harmful microorganisms. Its activities encompass the areas of water treatment, personal care, health and hygiene, industrial preservation, materials protection, and wood treatment. In addition, Lonza is a leader in cell-based research, endotoxin detection and cell therapy manufacturing. Furthermore, the company is a leading provider of value chemical and biotech ingredients to the nutrition and agro markets. Lonza is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and secondary listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”). Lonza is not subject to the SGX-ST’s continuing listing requirements. Lonza is subject to the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange, which do not have specific requirements equivalent to the listing rules of the SGX-ST in respect of interested person transactions, acquisition and realizations, and delisting. In 2011, the company had sales of CHF 2.692 billion.

Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.

About Sartorius Stedim Biotech

Sartorius Stedim Biotech is a leading provider of cutting-edge equipment and services for the development, quality assurance and production processes of the biopharmaceutical industry. Its integrated solutions covering fermentation, cell cultivation, filtration, purification, fluid management and lab technologies are supporting the biopharmaceutical industry around the world to develop and produce drugs safely, timely and economically. Sartorius Stedim Biotech focuses on single-use technologies and value-added services to meet the rapidly changing technology requirements of the industry it serves. Strongly rooted in the scientific community and closely allied with customers and technology partners, the company is dedicated to its philosophy of “turning science into solutions.” Headquartered in Aubagne, France, Sartorius Stedim Biotech is listed on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris. With its own manufacturing and R&D sites in Europe, North America and Asia and a global network of sales companies, Sartorius Stedim Biotech enjoys a worldwide presence. Its key manufacturing and R&D site is in Germany. The company employs approx. 2,850 people, and in 2011 earned sales revenue of 477.3 million euros.

Further information can be found at www.sartorius.com