Maryland biopharma company Precigen Inc. said Tuesday it reached a deal to sell animal reproductive technologies company Trans Ova Genetics LC to URUS Group LP, an agriculture holding company based in Madison, for $170 million in cash.
The deal also includes up to $10 million in performance-based earnouts if Trans Ova achieves certain benchmarks in 2022 and 2023. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
Helen Sabzevari, president and CEO of Germantown, Maryland-based Precigen (Nasdaq: PGEN), said in a statement the deal was made to commit more of the company’s focus to the “rapid development of our top clinical assets” in the cell and gene therapy space.
Last year, Precigen received a regulatory nod from the Food and Drug Administration to start clinical trials for an immunotherapy candidate to treat recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, or RRP — a disease caused by human papillomavirus in which growths develop in the respiratory tract, in some cases obstructing airways and causing other complications.
Trans Ova Genetics is based in Sioux Center, Iowa. It has dozens of regional and satellite locations and partners across the country, including a Madison office and Wisconsin sites and partners in Lomira, Junction City, Trempealeau, Lodi, Whitewater, Osceola and Cleveland, in Manitowoc County.
URUS is a holding company with cooperative and private ownership established to meet the needs of dairy and beef cattle producers around the globe. Its agricultural companies include Alta Genetics of Watertown, GENEX Cooperative of Shawano, and Jetstream Genetics.
Drew Hansen writes for the Washington (D.C.) Business Journal.
