(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkshire Hathaway’s wholly-owned Lubrizol Corporation has acquired Particle Sciences, a contract drug development and manufacturing organization with a comprehensive suite of services for the formulation, analysis and production of complex drug delivery solutions.
Headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Particle Sciences specializes in drug eluting device product development as well as sterile and particulate drug products.
This acquisition further expands Lubrizol LifeSciences’ pharmaceutical development capabilities, providing full service drug delivery solutions to the market across a variety of dosage forms.
Founded in 1991, the company is headed Mark Mitchnick, Dr. Mitchnick holds over 20 patents related to drug delivery, diagnostics and physiologic monitoring.
“With the addition of Particle Sciences and the recent acquisition of Vesta, we are now able to offer customers a complete solution that is one of the most comprehensive in the industry,” stated Deb Langer, vice president and general manager, Lubrizol LifeSciences. The combination of Lubrizol’s polymer expertise, Vesta’s quality medical manufacturing and Particle Sciences’ drug formulation development allows LifeSciences to provide end-to-end solutions in the drug delivery market.
Among its recent developments, in April, the company received a patent for its Surface Arrayed Therapeutics™ Drug Delivery Platform, a technology that has utility in applications ranging from oncology to vaccines.
“Particle Sciences and Lubrizol LifeSciences have worked together for several years providing various elements of an end-to-end solution from polymer supply through formulation and commercial manufacturing,” said Mark Mitchnick, chief executive officer, Particle Sciences. “With this transaction, Lubrizol LifeSciences acquires Particle Sciences’ extensive formulation, analytic and production assets for drug eluting devices, particulate, sterile and other complex drug products established over the last 10 years. We expect that coordinating all of this under one company will greatly benefit our customers.”
Particle Sciences will now be part of Lubrizol Advanced Materials but will retain its company name.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Lubrizol
Based in Wickliffe, Ohio, Lubrizol owns and operates manufacturing facilities in 17 countries, as well as sales and technical offices around the world. Founded in 1928, Lubrizol has approximately 7,500 employees worldwide. It sells its specialty chemical products in over 100 countries.
Berkshire Hathaway acquired Lubrizol in 2011 for $9 billion in cash.
© 2015 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.