Sofia-based Tokuda Hospital and Maastricht-based PharmaCell today have signed an agreement to establish a joint-venture to build and operate a GMP facility in Sofia, Bulgaria. The company will focus on human cell & tissue culturing for the Eastern European Market.

Tokuda Hospital Sofia is owned by the Tokushukai Medical Corporation, the largest health institution in the world with over 280 health care facilities in Japan; among which 65 hospitals. Tokushukai Medical Corporation is expanding its activities outside Japan. The Tokuda Hospital Sofia is the first of these expansions and is the most modern hospital in Eastern Europe.

PharmaCell is a pioneer in the field of human cell & tissue culturing operating from its GMP Facility in Maastricht, The Netherlands. PharmaCell has been operating as a contract manufacturing organisation for human cell & tissue culturing since 2005 and is actively engaged in R&D projects in human cell based therapies and technologies. For its research programs, the company has been awarded the EUREKA status in the EU. In 2007, PharmaCell has been awarded an official licence as a REGISTERED TISSUE ESTABLISHMENT under the EU-Directive and is the only company in The Netherlands and one of the very few in Europe to hold such a licence.

The joint-venture will build a world-class GMP facility focussed on human cell & tissue culturing in the Tokuda Hospital. From there it intends to serve the whole Eastern European Region for these treatments. The total investment in the Sofia Facility is € 5 million and construction will start early next year. With the intended expansion of Tokushukai Medical Corporation across the world, more such joint facilities are foreseeable in future.

Tokuda Hospital Sofia’s CEO, Dr. Rosen Panov: “The cooperation with PharmaCell will enable us to offer human cell based therapies to our patients. In our efforts to delivery the best possible health care to our customers these new treatment alternatives are critical to offer solutions for unmet clinical needs and keep us at the forefront of medical technology.”

PharmaCell’s CEO, Maurice Horsten; “We at PharmaCell strongly believe in a bright future for human cell based medicine and are determined to be a successful player in bringing these therapies and technologies to market. This joint-venture is a key step in rolling out our strategy to become a specialized global player in this promising area of human cell & tissue culturing. Many therapies for clinical needs which are currently unmet are being developed based on human cells. Combining PharmaCell expertise and Tokushukai’s network of health care facilities will enable us to move ahead even faster to bring these treatments within the reach of more patients around the world.”

The initiative for this joint venture has been taken by CDI Japan, which was also involved in the negotiations and the contracting. CDI Japan is an M&A consultancy and has, as part of CDI Global, offices in more than 30 countries, incl. Tokyo, Amsterdam and Sofia.

For more information on Tokushukai please visit www.tokudabolnica.bg or contact us at info@tokudabolnica.bg

For more information on PharmaCell please visit www.pharmacell.nl or contact us at info@pharmacell.nl

For more information on CDI Japan please visit www.cdiglobal.com, www.japaninsite.com or contact us at molijn@cdiglobal.com