Paris team advises SEQENS on acquisition of CELLforCURE site in Les Ulis

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised SEQENS on its acquisition of Novartis’ CELLforCURE site in Les Ulis (Essonne department), a production unit unique in France and one of the first modular entities in Europe to have enabled large-scale industrial production of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs).

With CELLforCURE, SEQENS - a worldwide leader in the development and production of active ingredients, pharmaceutical intermediates, and specialty ingredients - gains a unique and premium CDMO (Contract Development Manufacturing Organizations) system, combining the most innovative technologies.

SEQENS plans for the unit to become a leader in the development and custom manufacture of cell and gene therapies. It aims to rapidly develop this strategic and unique offering within Europe, maintaining and capitalizing on the know-how and the recognized skills of the CELLforCURE teams. The deal will also enable CELLforCURE to benefit from SEQENS’ recognized expertise, global system and strong investment capacity, which will help to support its rapid growth.

The acquisition demonstrates SEQENS’s commitment to ensuring the CELLforCURE production unit, which is of strategic importance to the national bio-therapy sector, can continue to operate and develop. The site plays an important role in the deployment of the government’s 2030 ‘Biotherapies and bioproduction of innovative therapies’ acceleration strategy, led by the Agence pour l’Innovation en Santé and launched on January 7, 2022 by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron.

The Paris-based Norton Rose Fulbright team advising SEQENS on this acquisition was led by corporate M&A Partner Karine Montagut, assisted by corporate M&A Counsel Marie-Adelaïde de Fleurieu. The team also included technology Partner Nadège Martin, technology Senior Associate Geoffroy Coulouvrat, employment Partner Laure Joncour, pharmaceutical Partner                          Marion Roquette-Pfister, tax Partner Antoine Colonna d’Istria and tax Associate Mathieu Jung.