GE Healthcare buys Wave Biotech

GE Healthcare yesterday announced it has acquired Wave Biotech, a supplier of disposable manufacturing technologies for the biopharmaceutical industry.

The acquisition of Wave Biotech, including its subsidiary Wave Europe, will allow GE Healthcare to expand its offering of products and services for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies and vaccines. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Wave Biotech develops and manufactures bioreactors that are designed to replace traditional and more expensive stainless steel tanks and piping.

The patented products are said to offer considerable advantages such as more rapid installation, potentially reducing time to market, and lower costs by eliminating the need for cleaning and validating between batches. Wave Biotech single use bioreactors are also increasingly being used to enable the manufacture of patient-specific cell and gene therapy products.