Bio-Techne to acquire Quad Technologies

08-Jun-2018 - USA

Bio-Techne Corporation announced it has reached agreement to acquire all of the stock of QT Holdings Corporation d/b/a Quad Technologies. The transaction is expected to close in early July and to be financed through available cash on hand.

"We are extremely excited to welcome Quad Technologies and its line of advanced reagents to Bio-Techne," commented Charles R. Kummeth, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bio-Techne. "We are confident that the novel, releasable, customizable, non-magnetic, Quickgel™ technologies, offered by Quad Technologies for cell separation and activation, represent a breakthrough in process improvements for clinical grade cell and gene therapy applications as well as for research use." Quad Technologies has developed QuickGel™ microparticles that are easily modifiable with antibodies and can serve as the substrate for traditional "bead-based" separation and cell activation with the added benefit of being able to quickly dissolve them after use. These properties provide both safety and efficacy advantages when used to manipulate cell populations. These features and benefits should facilitate the adoption of Quad products into both existing and new cell processing workflows. The Quad Technologies reagents further leverage Bio-Techne's industry-leading collection of research and GMP-grade Cytokines, Antibodies, Small Molecules, In Situ Hybridization Probes and Immunoassays offered under our R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, Tocris and Advanced Cell Diagnostics brands, all of which are trusted by leading scientists around the globe for use in their research, diagnostic and now therapeutic applications.

Quad Technologies' Chief Executive Officer Sean Kevlahan added, "The strategic fit between the two companies is excellent given their shared goal to move our products into clinical applications. Bio-Techne provides us with the resources and quality proteins needed to functionalize our reagents. We are delighted with this transaction and we are pleased to have found a new home for our products. The broader array of products, the additional marketing and commercial resources will serve our customers more efficiently and allow our products to be available on a global scale."

Quad Technologies' foundational QuickGel™ technology consists of a biocompatible dissolvable polymer which, when functionalized with the proper antibodies, can be used to enrich specific cell populations as well as to activate such cells with traditional cell surface cross-linking ligands. These products are ideal in the CAR-T/TCR and other gene-modified cell therapy process where there is high value placed on cell purity and functionality.

Quad Technologies was founded in 2013 with technology from Northeastern University. It is located in Woburn, Massachusetts and has approximately 15 employees.

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