Biovest Announces Record Growth in 2015, Reinvests in Core Business Operations
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“Biovest refocused on the existing instruments customer base in 2015 to deliver improved operational support and execution,” stated Christiaan Engstrom, President of Biovest. “The strategy is clearly working, as Biovest nearly doubled revenue with increased margins, while significantly upgrading operations throughout the year.”
Organizational growth is attributed to a resurgence of the Biovest hollow-fiber bioreactor product line. In early 2015, Biovest’s Board of Directors shifted investments away from immunotherapy research and development. The Board then initiated a restructuring of the organization, with the goal of driving long-term profitability in the instruments and bioservices business units.
Engstrom was named President, and immediately tasked with building a leadership team. Other directives included growing existing customer relationships, while addressing engineering, supply chain, regulatory and production challenges.
The Biovest leadership team now includes:
• Gina Truitt, former private equities merger and acquisition advisor and financial executive at Target, as Chief Financial Officer
• Curt Gleiter, long-time Biovest instruments manager, was promoted to Vice President, Instruments Division
• Scott Waniger, long-time Biovest bioservices manager, was promoted to Vice President, BioServices Division
• David McCabe, former Partner and Chief Business Officer at Madison, Wisconsin-based Intense Engineering, was hired as Vice President, Operations
• Erin Rasch, former Business Development Manager at St. Cloud, Minnesota-based bioreactor company DCI-Biolafitte, was hired as Director of Business Development, North America
“I am confident we have assembled a leadership team that will drive continued growth in 2016,” Engstrom said. “Our long-term customers—global leaders in the biologics industry—have made it clear our products are essential to their future.”
Biovest bioreactors and instruments facilitate efficient expansion of critical cell lines and protein production for diagnostic and therapeutic biologics organizations. The company has designed, manufactured and distributed these instruments globally out of its Minneapolis headquarters since 1981. In the late 1980s, Biovest began offering GMP contract manufacturing of biologics, and in the late 1990s, added immunotherapy development to the portfolio.
