Porton Fine Chemicals, a China-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) serving the global pharmaceutical industry, has announced that Porton USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Porton, has entered into a stock purchase agreement with the shareholders of J-STAR Research, a contract chemistry organization based in South Plainfield, New Jersey, under which PTC will acquire J-STAR from its shareholders for no more than $26 million in cash.

J-STAR has been serving as an outsourcing partner for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries since its inception in 1996. There are currently 47 employees with vast working experience in the industry, including 32 Ph.D.s. J-STAR offers all of the necessary services to support early phase clinical development of small molecule API's, with core business covering custom synthesis, process research, crystallization research and development, analytical services, etc. After the acquisition, Porton will expand its business reach of its contract development and manufacturing organization.

"The strategic acquisition of J-STAR allows us to accelerate the fulfillment of our goal of providing integrated outsourcing services in the development and manufacturing of new drugs," said Oliver Ju, chairman of Porton. "J-STAR will complement PTC, our recently launched technology center in Cranbury, NJ. We look forward to seeing market and operating synergies to be achieved in the future, and we are very pleased to welcome J-STAR to Porton."

"Adding our expertise and technologies onto more comprehensive, integrated development services to more customers has always been a main strategic goal for us. With the integration with Porton platform, we shall find a perfect match connecting our customized development ability with Porton's advanced manufacturing experience to better serve new drug industry," commented Dr. Andrew Thompson, CEO and cofounder of J-STAR.