As announced on December 8, 2022, BICO entered a strategic cooperation with Sartorius followed by a directed share issue, ranking Sartorius as the second largest owner in BICO. In conjunction with the share issue, BICO and Sartorius agreed on comprehensive cooperation on technology as well as sales and marketing. BICO and Sartorius also entered into a sales & distribution frame agreement as well as a master research & development agreement during the first quarter of 2023 which was communicated in BICO’s Q1-report 2023.
 
To formalize the next step in the partnership several sub-sales and distribution agreements were signed in May and June 2023 between Sartorius and BICO companies CELLINK, Dispendix, and ABM. This means that Sartorius will be distributing a range of instruments such as CELLINK’s 3D bioprinting portfolio: BIO X, BIO X6 and BIONOVA X, Dispendix’ liquid handling platform I.DOT MINI, as well as a wide range of bioinks and reagents from ABM to customers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The Sartorius sales teams will be trained in BICO products and offering during Q2 and the beginning of Q3, 2023. BICO is expecting that Sartorius distribution network in APAC will contribute with a moderate sales contribution during 2023 which is estimated to gradually expand during 2024.
 
Project agreements were also signed for research & development projects between Sartorius and BICO companies CELLINK, MatTek, ABM and Cellenion focused on advanced cell models for drug discovery. The project agreement with BICO company Biosero is in the final stages of scoping. The R&D projects, managed in collaboration between BICO’s CTO, participating companies, and Sartorius, target spheroids, 3D tissue models, 3D bioprinting and digital solutions for automated workflows.

Erik Gatenholm, President & CEO, BICO Group AB

“The strategic collaboration with Sartorius will expand our presence and accelerate growth in Asia-Pacific, where BICO today has considerable market potential. We are very much looking forward to seeing our collaboration taking the next step and we believe that Sartorius and BICO’s combined offer will provide researchers with innovative products based on complementary technologies that we, together, are offering. BICO is also getting an R&D boost from value-adding, complementary technologies and products that will enhance our current customer offering within bioprinting and digital solutions for automated workflows.”

All agreements are based on mutually attractive commercial terms and on arm's-length principles.