Cell therapy weekly: Lonza to acquire Codiak BioSciences Exosomes Manufacturing Facility
This week: Lonza plans to acquire Codiak BioSciences Exosomes Manufacturing Facility and become a long-term strategic manufacturing partner, Bio-Techne announces the launch of its commercially available GMP-grade materials for cell culture media for immuno-oncology and regenerative medicine, and Takeda acquires GammaDelta Therapeutics to strengthen the development of allogeneic (γδ) T cells.
The news highlights:
- Lonza to acquire Codiak BioSciences Exosomes Manufacturing Facility
- Bio-Techne announces launch of GMP-grade proteins from its GMP facility
- Takeda acquires GammaDelta to strengthen cancer cell therapy
Lonza to acquire Codiak BioSciences Exosomes Manufacturing Facility
Lonza (Basil, Switzerland) plans to acquire Codiak’s Lexington (MA, USA) facility as part of plans to become the strategic manufacturing partner for Codiak’s pipeline. As part of the deal, Codiak will receive approximately US$65 million of cGMP manufacturing services, and Lonza will gain access and sub-licensable rights to Codiak’s high-throughput perfusion-based cGMP process for exosome manufacturing. Together, the companies will establish a Center of Excellence for the development of exosome manufacturing technologies, to advance the developments in exosome production, purification and analytics.
Bio-Techne announces launch of GMP-grade proteins from its GMP facility
Bio-Techne (MN, USA) has announced the commercial availability of GMP-grade materials manufactured at its St. Paul GMP facility. The facility will support the large-scale production of GMP-grade proteins, including animal-free cytokines and growth factors that are essential to cell culture media for immuno-oncology, regenerative medicine and gene-modified cell therapy workflows. Chuck Kummeth, Bio-Techne’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our new facility gives us the scalability and capacity to bring our GMP-grade protein business to the next level, providing a reliable source of the highest quality proteins to support the rapidly growing cell and gene therapy market. It’s been exciting to watch our site in St. Paul, MN successfully complete the qualification process and we look forward to playing our part in the world’s most innovative science and medicine.”
Takeda acquires GammaDelta to strengthen cancer cell therapy
Takeda (Tokyo, Japan) has acquired GammaDelta Therapeutics (London, UK) to advance its cell therapy platform for the potential treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. The acquisition will enable Takeda to obtain GammaDelta’s allogeneic variable delta 1 (Vδ1) gamma-delta (γδ) T cell therapy platforms, which include both blood-derived and tissue-derived platforms. The deal is expected to be finalized in Q1 of Takeda’s fiscal year 2022. Christopher Arendt, Head of Oncology Cell Therapy and Therapeutic Area Unit of Takeda, said: “Gamma-delta T cell-based therapies represent a differentiated approach to target both solid tumors and hematological malignancies, and we are eager to integrate GammaDelta’s cell therapy platforms into our immuno-oncology R&D efforts.”
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