Vancouver diabetes and obesity drug company Sirona Biochem Corp. (TSX-V:SBM) has acquired French drug-discovery company TFChem S.A.S. in a deal that will allow Sirona to expand into lucrative markets such as anti-aging cosmeceuticals and biological ingredients.
According to the company, the $2 million deal will allow Sirona to generate revenue faster than in the highly regulated therapeutics market by expanding into quick-to-market products such as an anti-aging cream.
The company said it believes TChem’s technology, a proprietary chemistry method, improves the stability, bioavailability, selectivity and efficacy of carbohydrate-based drugs.
Sirona CEO Howard Verrico noted that Sirona has been partnering with TFChem for a couple of years and building a relationship with the company.
“We recognized the power of their technology from the very beginning. It’s the technology that won [TFChem founder and chief scientific officer Géraldine Deliencourt-Godefroy] the gold medal for innovator of the year in France.”
Describing the company’s opportunities, Verrico commented that the cosmeceutical market was valued at $64 billion in 2008 and is projected to break $100 billion by 2013.
“We’re entering a very big market, we’ve got a platform technology – it’s exactly what the pharmaceutical industry is looking for and it’s what the investors are looking for. We’ve been able to lower the risks that are involved and broaden opportunities.”