Olympus Gets Out of the Bone Putty Biz

Olympus Corporation is getting out of the biotech business. The company plans to discontinue operations for its U.S. biotechnology division, Olympus Biotech.

The company expects the entire closure process to take some time to complete and it will start with the Hopkinton, Mass., facility. Commercial operations and product availability will end May 30 in the United States and Canada. The company already announced plans to sell its 180,000-square-foot biotech facility in Lebanon, N.H. The company reports that it has received interest from buyers and contract manufacturing partners, but no deal has been struck yet.

Olympus Biotech was established in December 2010 as a wholly owned company of Olympus Corporation of the Americas. Olympus purchased the company from Stryker Corp. for $60 million.

Stryker Biotech’s entire OP-1 bone growth product family, which included OP-1 Implant, OP-1 Putty, Opgenra and Osigraft, were sold to Olympus. The OP-1 line also came with its share of legal troubles.Stryker Biotech settled with the attorney general’s office is Massachusetts as well as federal regulators over allegations the company improperly marketed OP-1 products for indications that were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“This was a very difficult decision and was made only after numerous alternatives for business continuation were identified and exhausted over the past year,” said David Renker, chief operating officer for Olympus Biotech. “This decision was a financial one and is not related to the performance of our OP-1 family of products. We are proud of OP-1’s legacy in the market and its significant contributions to regenerative medicine and the quality of life in patients worldwide. In addition, we are grateful to our employees for the incredible support they have shown our biotech business throughout its history and thank them for their dedication to the business and our mission.”

Successfully navigating the highly regulated biotech industry and commercializing innovative biologics products requires significant investment. Despite the company’s best efforts Olympus wasn’t able to gain the traction necessary to build a broader regenerative medicine portfolio in the United States.

More than 200 employees will be impacted by the closure.

Olympus officials say they are working closely with customers and regulators to ensure that product and customer support in both the medical affairs and commercial arenas are provided as the company ceases operations.

The company’s other medical technology operations remain unaffected. The company’s healthcare division makes medical and surgical products, gastrointestinal endoscopy, minimally invasive surgical products and accessories, and life-science imaging systems.