DURHAM – The early-stage biotechnology firm Isolere Bio, Inc. has a new parent company.

According to a statement, the Durham-based Isolere Bio, which was founded in 2017, has been purchased by Donaldson Company, Inc., a publicly-traded firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“Isolere is thrilled to join the Donaldson family and bring our novel affinity-phase separation technology to market,” said Kelli Luginbuhl, Ph.D, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Isolere in the statement.  “Our technology, complemented by Donaldson’s filtration excellence, is part of a larger vision to bring end-to-end solutions to the life sciences industry.”

Donaldson Company was founded in 1915 and is a leader in the technology-led filtration market, with 140 global locations.

The revenues from Isolere Bio will be reported as a part of the company’s life sciences segment, according to the statement.

Donaldson Company also recently acquired two other firms, Solaris Biotechnology and Purilogics.

“With the integral addition of Isolere to our Life Sciences portfolio, Donaldson is positioned to create premier separation and filtration solutions for emerging genetic-based drugs,” said Tod Carpenter, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Donaldson in a statement. “We look forward to accelerating Isolere’s growth trajectory through sales synergies from our recent acquisitions of Solaris Biotechnology and Purilogics and through the strength of our balance sheet.”

Isolere Bio did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WRAL TechWire.

Female-led Duke biotech spinout Isolere Bio closes $7M in seed funding

Bringing technology to the life sciences industry

The company is a spin-out of Duke University and raised $7 million in capital from Northpond Ventures in 2021 which was meant to support the firm’s development, growth, and commercialization of the firm’s technology.

That technology is aimed initially at the “purification of viral vectors used for cell and gene therapies,” according to the statement.

Called, IsoTag™, the biotech startup’s technology products are “reagents and accompanying filtration processes used for the purification and streamlined manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals” that are “designed to substantially improve product quality and purity with faster timelines compared to competing solutions, enabling accelerated and more affordable delivery of life-changing therapies to patients globally,” according to the statement.

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