A Duke University spin-out is now part of a large filtration technology company.
Bloomington, Minnesota-based Donaldson Co. (NYSE: DCI) announced Tuesday its acquisition of Durham's Isolere Bio, an early-stage biotech that spun out of Duke in 2017.
Isolere is developing novel reagents and accompanying filtration processes that are used to streamline the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. The company's technology is focused on the purification of viral vectors used in manufacturing cell and gene therapies.
Isolere in 2021 raised $7 million in a seed round led by Northpond Ventures to help fund the development of its purification technology.
Kelli Luginbuhl, co-founder and CEO of Isolere, said they're thrilled to join Donaldson and bring its technology to market.
"Our technology, complemented by Donaldson's filtration excellence, is part of a larger vision to bring end-to-end solutions to the life sciences industry," Luginbuhl said.
Revenue from Isolere's technology, once it's commercialized, will become part of Donaldson's life sciences segment. This is a business the company has expanded through both this deal and previous acquisitions.
In late 2021, Donaldson acquired the the Italian company Solaris Biotechnology for cash consideration of about $45.7 million. The company followed this deal by acquiring South Carolina-based biotech Purilogics in June for a maximum payout of up to $29 million, according to an annual earnings report Donaldson filed in September.
Donaldson didn't disclose the terms of its deal for Isolere.
Tod Carpenter, president and CEO of Donaldson, said the deal positions the company to "create premier separation and filtration solutions for emerging genetic-based drugs."
"We look forward to accelerating Isolere’s growth trajectory through sales synergies from our recent acquisitions of Solaris Biotechnology and Purilogics and through the strength of our balance sheet," Carpenter said.
The company at the end of July had about 14,000 full-time employees at more than 140 locations globally. Donaldson ended its latest fiscal year with revenue of about $3.3 billion.
This deal follows other recent instances of larger companies acquiring Duke life sciences spinouts.
In January 2022, the gene therapy company Kriya Therapeutics acquired Warden Bio and the rights to its five preclinical gene therapy programs. This acquisition served as the foundation for Kriya's new rare disease division.
In August, Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates, a global materials science company, acquired InnAVasc Medical and its arteriovenous graft technology for patients with end-stage renal disease.
According to a 2022 report from Duke University's Office for Translation and Commercialization, nine university-connected startups had been acquired over the past five years.
