Cognate BioServices and Akron Biotechnology Partner to Provide More Complete Services

Hanover, Md.-based Cognate BioServices Inc. and Boca Raton, Fla.-based Akron Biotechnology LLC have established a strategic partnership to provide a more complete package of services to their clients. Cognate provides cGMP (current good manufacturing practice) manufacturing services and regulatory support to companies and institutions engaged in the development of regenerative medicine and cell-based products and therapies. Akron Biotech is a supplier of validated reagents, solutions and technologies to the cell therapy industry. The companies plan to unify their resources to better serve growing market demands internationally.

“This partnership is a unique opportunity to integrate the offerings of our two companies to meet the growing needs of the industry by strategically reducing the cost of goods through enabling solutions and procurement of raw materials in a cost-efficient manner for our customers and Cognate clients,” said Akron Biotech founder and CEO Claudia Zylberberg, Ph.D.

“We believe that offering a more full service integration with specific key supply chain demands provides us and our clients a competitive advantage in this field,” added J. Kelly Ganjei, CEO of Cognate BioServices. “Dr. Zylberberg and her team have built a brand around quality and innovation, two attributes that Cognate requires of itself internally. We are very excited about continuing to expand our collective offerings to our clients in the United States and internationally.”

The companies will continue to operate as separate entities, with each company focusing on further developing its core competencies while simultaneously leveraging each other’s strengths to advance new cell therapy-based treatments from workbench to the clinic. For Cognate’s core, these competencies include cGMP manufacturing, scale up, validation and process development through specialized infrastructure and expertise to support clients through all aspects of cell-based drug development up to and including commercialization. Akron’s core competencies include the production and distribution of validated raw materials and solutions to cell therapy clients, as well as making new products and technologies for the regenerative medicine space.