York Pharma snaps up Sheffield spin-out

Acquisition

York Pharma, a pharmaceutical company focused on the field of dermatology, has acquired some assets and the continuing business of Celltran Limited, founded in 2000 by Professors Sheila MacNeil and Robert Short from the University of Sheffield.

The acquisition further expands York Pharma’s product offering in dermatology, providing two specialised, marketed products for the treatment of chronic wounds and burns, Myskin and Cryoskin, and a rich pipeline of associated products and technologies.

York Pharma will acquire these assets for consideration of £70,000 plus the payment of royalties on future sales for a period of five years (at the greater of £100,000 [£20,000 per year] or 10 per cent of future revenues generated by the products over such period). The assets are expected to be self-financing within 12 months following acquisition and provide a growing income stream to York Pharma during that period at no incremental sales team costs

Myskin and Cryoskin are directly complementary to Flammazine and Flammacerium, both recently acquired by York Pharma. They will be co-marketed by York Pharma’s sales team for the acute treatment and subsequent regeneration of the skin associated with burns and wounds. The acquisition consolidates York Pharma’s growing position in the fast-growing £6 billion chronic wound care market.

Concurrently, an institutional placing led by FinnCap has raised £510,000 (before expenses) at 14.4 pence per share to provide additional working capital for the integration, operation and further development of the assets within York Pharma’s business.