The parent company of one of Ottawa’s largest life sciences firms has announced plans to sell a segment of Kanata-based Nordion, with roughly 150 employees changing firms as part of the deal.
Virginia-based BWX Technologies will acquire Nordion’s medical isotopes division from current owner Sotera Health, in an announcement published on April 17, 2018.
An estimated 150 employees will transfer to BWX Technologies, including Nordion’s Vancouver operations, as part of the deal. Nordion says that will leave approximately 150 employees under its banner in Kanata, though both firms will continue to operate out of the same building after the acquisition closes.
Nordion president Kevin Brooks said in a statement that the company will focus on accelerating growth in the gamma sterilization technologies field.
“Within BWXT, we have proprietary technology that we can use to do the development of isotopes,” said Jonathan Cirtain, vice president of advanced technologies for BWXT.
“With the capabilities of both personnel and the facilities in Canada, we’ll be able to use those facilities to bring new products to market.”
BWX has worked for several years in the creation of targets that are used by other companies to make medical isotopes. Hisorically, however, the company has not been involved in processing those targets into medically safe isotopes, Cirtain said.
“There’s a growing market in therapeutics,” Cirtain said. “So they’re using radioisotopes to treat and manage cancers. That’s an area of growth and something that I think our company would be very interested in.”
The deal, subject to U.S. and Canadian regulatory review, is expected to close by the end of 2018.
Stratford Managers’ Business Operations’ team have worked in collaboration with Stiletto to provide executive strategic facilitation and opportunity identification services to Nordion.
For more information, read the original articles published by the Ottawa Business Journal ‘Virginia company acquires Kanata-based Nordion assets’ and Virginia Business ‘BWXT makes acquisition in the growing medical radioisotope market’.
[UPDATE] As of Jan. 15, 2021, Ottawa’s Stratford Managers Corporation has become Stratford Group Ltd.