The Danish Novo Nordisk buys the French medtech Biocorp for 154 million euros

This should give some color to a market for mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare sector that has been rather lackluster in recent months. The manufacturer of medical devices Biocorp has just announced, Monday, June 5, its acquisition by the Danish giant Novo Nordisk for an amount of 154 million euros.

The pharmaceutical laboratory will first acquire the 45.3% stake in Biocorp held by the current main shareholder, Bio Jag. The Danish will then propose a takeover bid on the rest of the capital, at 35 euros per share. The world number one in insulin was particularly won over by the connected sensor, called Mallya, developed by the French company. This medical device, which attaches to insulin injector pens, allows diabetic patients to keep precise real-time monitoring of the doses injected daily, thus sparing them the tedious task of recording each intake in a self-monitoring notebook.

Diabetes is a complicated disease to manage. Unlike conventional treatment where medication intake is fixed, patients must adapt their intake according to the evolution of their blood sugar levels, which leads to forgetfulness or overdoses. “, explains Eric Dessertenne, CEO of Biocorp.

A factory in Issoire

Founded in 2004 by Jacques Gardette, Biocorp (11.7 million euros in turnover in 2022) has had several lives. At its launch, the company’s activity was exclusively centered on the development and production, in its plastics factory in Issoire (Puy-de-Dôme), of traditional medical devices for third parties (applicators, pipettes, measuring spoons , cannulas, etc.). Under the impetus of its founder, the company took a turn in 2015 by focusing its attention on e-health.

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Its initial public offering in Paris the same year enabled it to raise 10 million euros to make its project a reality. A successful bet. Its connected device for diabetic patients, after having obtained the green light from the health authorities, is marketed from 2020, and the medtech company signs several partnership contracts with major pharmaceutical companies, including Novo Nordisk.

The takeover by the latter should allow the Danish company to push the use of connected solutions for the monitoring of patients with chronic diseases even further. “Beyond diabetes, our platform will be able to adapt to other therapeutic areas in which Novo Nordisk operates”, explains Mr. Dessertenne. All of the French teams (84 employees) will be retained, as well as the production site in Issoire, where all Biocorp products are now manufactured for the whole world.

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