OJSC Pharmstandard, one of Russia’s largest pharmaceutical company, and Millhouse LLC, the investment company of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, have announced plans to acquire individual, separate stakes in Biocad Holding Ltd., the main shareholder in the Russian biotechnological company CJSC Biocad, a developer of original biopharmaceuticals and biosimilars.

​Under the terms of the deal, Pharmstandard will acquire 20% of Biocad Holding, and a Millhouse-affiliated entity will purchase a further 50% stake. Pharmstandard plans to finance the acquisition with its own funds. For the Millhouse-affiliated entity, closure of its deal to purchase a 50% stake in Biocad is subject to approval by the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service. The remaining 30% of Biocad Holdings will be controlled by Dmitri Morozov, CEO and founder of Biocad, who will continue to run the company together with his management team.

Biocad’s main production facilities are located in Petrovo-Dalnee outside Moscow. It has a new drug-development and commercial manufacturing facility in the Neudorf Special Economic Zone near St. Petersburg for large-scale commercial production of monoclonal antibodies. Biocad recently received approval from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation to market AcellBia (rituximab), the first monoclonal antibody biosimilar registered for approval in Russia, according to the company, which is also is developing biosimilar versions of the monoclonal antibodies trastuzumab and bevacizumab.

Millhouse and Pharmstandard have previously cooperated on the acquisitions of ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and CJSC Masterlek, and on Pharmstandard's initial public offering.

Source: Pharmstandard, Biocad (production), and Biocad (rituximab)