NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Caliper Life Sciences said today that it has signed an agreement to sell its Pharmaceutical Development & Quality Analysis, or PDQ, product line to pharmaceutical testing firm Sotax in a deal worth around $15.8 million.
The sale of Caliper’s PDQ product line, which includes products for drug content uniformity and dissolution rate testing and related services, is expected to close next month.
Kevin Hrusovsky, president and CEO of Caliper, said in a statement that the divestment will enable the firm to focus on its “core technologies” in imaging, microfluidics, and sample preparation, and will also strengthen the company’s balance sheet.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sotax will pay Caliper approximately $13.8 million in cash and will assume liabilities for an additional $2 million.
The companies also plan to enter into a long-term lease agreement under which Caliper will sublease around 10,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space to Sotax, but this lease agreement has not yet been finalized.
Caliper said that "certain" employees who are involved with the PDQ business will be offered positions with Sotax. A company spokesman said that the company currently employs around 500 people, but did not provide details on how many work in the PDQ business.
"All Caliper employees directly involved with the PDQ product line are expected to be offered positions at Sotax," the spokesman said.
Caliper’s PDQ product line includes the TPW3 Tablet Processing Workstation, the APW3 Active Ingredient Processing Workstation, the MultiDose G3 Dissolution Workstation, and other related products.