Date: Apr 09, 2012 Source:
Bloomington, Ind. — As part of its ongoing commitment to patients needing emerging new cellular therapies, Cook Group has acquired the assets of General BioTechnology LLC and launched a new company, Cook General BioTechnology LLC (CGBT). Based in Indianapolis, CGBT adds valuable new cell and tissue processing and cryopreservation technologies to Cook Group's existing cellular therapies and manufacturing portfolio that includes Cook MyoSite, Cook Pharmica and Cook Biotech. Details of the acquisition including the cost were not released.
“Our company has been dedicated to advancing the science and practical application of processing and storage of cells and tissues to empower scientific research into new cell-based medical therapies,” said Erik Woods, Ph.D., president of CGBT. “With our team's deep heritage in cell therapy technologies, CGBT has already been awarded several Small Business Innovation Research grants to improve cryopreservation and biobanking methods. Now as part of Cook Group with all its resources, we look forward to establishing additional partnerships with universities, industry leaders and scientific researchers to help create the future of cell therapies.”
The new company, which has approximately 20 employees, already has contracts with universities to aid in development of advanced cryopreservation and banking procedures for fragile, unique cell and tissue types. Research sponsored by these programs has resulted in the development of several cryopreservation processing patents directly assigned and licensed back to CGBT. Presently, CGBT runs an umbilical cord blood and tissue bank for individual families, The Genesis Bank, and a reproductive tissue bank, Genome Resources.
“Cook Group is positioning our cell therapy portfolio to serve this burgeoning industry, as it is clear that this market is becoming increasingly important to global healthcare advancements,” Neal Fearnot, Ph.D., vice president of Cook Group and chairman of MED Institute, added. “At Cook, we are dedicated to continually innovating and delivering opportunities that advance medical breakthroughs and improve the quality of patient care worldwide, and we see this business acquisition and the launch of CGBT as a major step in that direction.”
