With ARCHIMED’s help, Stragen will pursue its development in the generics space.

Private equity healthcare specialist, ARCHIMED, announces the acquisition of Stragen Pharma through its €1 billion MED Platform I fund. Based near Geneva, Switzerland and founded in 1990, Stragen is primarily a developer of hard-to-make, complex generic drugs for the treatment of patients with life-threatening conditions that require comprehensive care and monitoring, usually in intensive care units.

Stragen sales of some €70 million in 2020 are growing at a double-digit annual pace. Stragen’s 40 different products are sold in over 60 countries around the world, with a strong European focus.

“Stragen’s developed what we consider unsurpassed expertise digging into difficult-to-formulate generics and then taking leadership positions,” says ARCHIMED Partner Jean-Yves Desmottes. With an estimated size of €5 billion this segment of the generics market should enjoy healthy growth in the coming years. Many innovative, but currently patented active pharma ingredients will fall into the generic area over the next five years, expanding the corresponding generics market by what ARCHIMED estimates is €4 billion, or 80 percent.

“ARCHIMED knows our market inside and out,” says Jean-Luc Tétard, Stragen’s founder and Chief Executive. “With their backing, Stragen will have the means and freedom to pursue growth.” “We’ll help Stragen build-up its product portfolio, especially through investment in existing operations,” says André-Michel Ballester, the ARCHIMED Managing Partner in charge of the MED Platform I fund.

As part of the transaction, Jean-Luc Tétard will be stepping down from the CEO’s position, but will remain on Stragen’s board. The new CEO, Amine Achite, has a long history of growing healthcare companies, and was most recently CEO of diversified food supplements manufacturer and distributor EA Pharma. Tétard and Stragen’s management will retain a significant minority stake in the company.

MED Platform I, which holds Stragen, owns three additional platforms: Italy-based Bomi Group, Europe’s leading healthcare-specialist contract logistics organization; US-based NAMSA, the world’s preeminent contract research organization for Medtech; and UK-based DHG, a North European leader in hospital equipment. ARCHIMED also manages MED I, currently ranked the best performing buyout fund at a global level for the 2014 vintage, according to Preqin data. MED I has distributed more than four times invested capital to limited partners and has a total return in excess of six times invested capital.