Nitto Denko Avecia Inc. (Avecia), today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Irvine Pharmaceutical Services (Irvine) and Avrio Biopharmaceuticals (Avrio), both located in Irvine, CA. Irvine is a leading analytical development services provider and Avrio is a premier cGMP parenteral contract manufacturing organization. Avecia will consolidate both businesses into the newly established company, Nitto Avecia Pharma Services.

The acquisitions of Irvine and Avrio, which are expected to be completed in October, will significantly boost Avecia’s analytical capabilities and complement its oligonucleotide drug substance services. “We are excited to work with Irvine and Avrio’s founder, Dr. Assad Kazeminy, a recognized leader in the industry for more than 30 years,” said Detlef Rethage, president of Nitto Denko Avecia. “Together, we will work to realize the synergies between the three businesses by offering seamless outsourcing solutions for the benefit of our customers, including oligonucleotide drug substance, drug product, analytical development and related services.”

“With our strong customer base developed and maintained for nearly 30 years in the cGMP contract development and manufacturing arena, we believe that Irvine and Avrio are a perfect fit with Nitto Avecia Pharma Service’s innovative business model,” said Dr. Assad Kazeminy, CEO and Founder of Irvine Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. and Avrio Biopharmaceuticals, LLC. “This combination provides an exciting expansion of breadth of capabilities and depth of expertise to support the growing needs of the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and medical device industries.”

ABOUT NITTO DENKO AVECIA INC.

Nitto Denko Avecia Inc. is a recognized leader in therapeutic nucleic acid manufacturing and development services with facilities located in Milford, Mass.; Marlboro, Mass.; and Cincinnati offering services for DNA, RNA and other oligonucleotides based therapeutics from milligram scale at pre-clinical stage to 1000kg + post commercial launch. More information: www.Avecia.com. Nitto Denko Avecia is proud member of Nitto Group. More information: www.Nitto.com

ABOUT IRVINE PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES

Irvine Pharmaceutical Service Inc. is a premier contract development and manufacturing organization providing support to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and medical device industries. Irvine provides full cGMP specialized product development service such as preformulation/formulation, analytical development, parenteral manufacturing, stability storage and complete analytical CMC testing. More information: www.irvinepharma.com

ABOUT AVRIO BIOPHARMACEUTICALS

Irvine's affiliate, Avrio Biopharmaceuticals, is a cGMP contract development and manufacturing organization supporting the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries from Phase I through post-market life cycle management. With a state-of-the-art facility, experienced staff, and robust quality infrastructure, Avrio delivers client-centric solutions in a timely manner. More information: www.avriobiopharma.com