Ardena divests Södertälje drug substance site to Nanologica

Belgium firm Ardena has divested its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) site in Södertälje to Swedish life science tools company Nanologica.

The deal will see contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) and bioanalytical contract research organisation (CRO) Ardena take a stake in Nanologica and its CEO Jeremie Trochu will join Nanologica’s Board of Directors.

Trochu said: “This transaction supports Ardena’s strategy to focus investment and growth on specialised capabilities that enable precision medicines and deliver meaningful patient impact across drug product, nanomedicine, drug conjugates, biomarkers and bioanalysis.

“Nanologica is a partner we know well and is ideally positioned to build on the strong foundation in Södertälje and offer an exciting future for the site.”

The facility is an established API CDMO with more than 45 employees that supports programmes across early development, clinical supply and commercial manufacturing.

The Södertälje business will now operate as a wholly owned subsidiary within the Nanologica Group and will revert to its original name Syntagon.

Meanwhile, Ardena last month won a contract from New York-based, cancer-focused biotech Nouveau Biosciences to manufacture its lead asset Kromastat (previously known as NBS-M001). Nouveau Biosciences will work with Ardena, which has a nanomedicine facility in the Netherlands, to progress its proprietary drug discovery technology that uses polymer-based nanochemistry to enhance drug targeting, tolerability and efficacy.