Laureate sells NJ unit to Discovery Labs for $16M

US firm Laureate Pharma, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Safeguard Scientifics, says that it has completed the previously-announced sale of its Totowa, New Jersey, operations to Discovery Laboratories for $16.0 million in cash. Laureate, a provider of bioprocessing services to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, conducts its principal operations at its Princeton, NJ, facility. Its Totowa site has been dedicated largely to work for Discovery Laboratories over the past two years as Laureate conducted clinical trials of its lead product, Surfaxin (lucinactant).

"This is a win-win for Laureate Pharma and its customers, as well as for Safeguard and its shareholders," said Peter Boni, chief executive of Safeguard Scientifics... It provides Laureate Pharma significant additional resources to enhance its Princeton operations enabling the company to continue offering its customers the highest quality, most efficient services. With closing of this deal, Discovery Labs moves closer to its goal of becoming a fully-integrated biotechnology company and can prepare for the anticipated launch of its lead product in 2006. And finally, Safeguard will report a significant gain on the sale in the fourth quarter of 2005, just one year after we acquired Laureate Pharma," Mr Boni added.