The American company Orgenesis obtained MaSTherCell (Gosselies) for $24.6 million.
Enterpreneur Hugues Bultot’s MaSTherCell specializes in the production of stem cells for therapeutic purposes such as gene therapy, immunotherapy and regenerative medicine. Orgenesis runs its activities around cell therapy for diabetes (type I) by applying hepatocytes to diabetes patients. Those cells “teach” the liver how to produce insulin. Orgenesis could have produced the cells themselves, but it would have required a bigger investment than acquiring MasterCell. MasterCell started in 2011 as a spin-off from the French-speaking ULB. It employs 34 people. This take-over saw Orgenesis’ value to rise from $40 to $60–70 million.
Other Walloon companies that operate around stem cells are Promethera, focusing on liver diseases, Bone Therapeutics, focusing on fractures and Cardio3 BioSciences, focusing on cardiovascular diseases. In Flanders, stem cell company Tigenix is working on autoimmune, inflammatory and knee cartilage diseases.
