BioLife Solutions acquires the rest of Savsu Technologies

BioLife Solutions, which has carved out a specialized niche in providing media to preserve refrigerated or frozen cells, is acquiring the remaining 56% of Savsu that it doesn’t already own. Together, the companies will offer research and commercial biopharma clients a one-stop shop for media and for containers, which range from controlled room-temperature, to refrigerated, to cryogenic. This capability becoming more important as research on cellular and genetic therapies has exploded, and as FDA approves a trickle of new CGT therapies (the latest being AveXis’ Zolgensma [onasemnogene abeparvovac-xioi], a genetic therapy for pediatric spinal muscular dystrophy—a product that Savsu says it was involved in the development of).

Until the CGT field began expanding, most work with cryogenically preserved biomaterials involved the use of traditional dewars, which tend to be heavy, metallic bottles that run the risk of tipping over in transit, which affects their performance. Savsu developed a tailored solution, combined with an IT system to automatically track and monitor a shipment. BioLife and Savsu had announced, in 2015, the Biologistex service for managing the entire shipping process, but that offering appears to have faded away, with the Savsu depending on relationships with several express couriers instead.