Catalent to close cell therapy center in Belgium amid reported drop in production

Catalent’s cell therapy European Center of Excellence in Gosselies, Belgium, which includes a 25,830-square-foot clinical manufacturing facility, is slated to close potentially impacting approximately 150 employees.

Despite a series of acquisitions and expansions in recent years, the planned closure of the Gosselies campus — equipped with autologous and allogeneic platforms for process development to clinical and commercial cell therapy manufacturing — is linked to a decline in production, local media outlet RTL reported.

A large-scale 60,000-square-foot commercial dedicated plant was completed in 2022 at the Gosselies site, according to Catalent’s website. The campus, acquired in 2020 from Belgium-based cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) MaSTherCell Global, also includes a 17,000 square-foot plasmid DNA development and manufacturing facility with multiple GMP production suites.

“As part of our commitment to driving value for our customers and patients, Catalent continually evaluates its operations in response to changing market dynamics and customer needs,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Pharma Manufacturing. “Consistent with this review, Catalent has announced its intent to close the Gosselies cell therapy and plasmids site and consider transitioning certain ongoing business to other sites within our network.”

Asked how many jobs will be eliminated with the closing, the spokesperson said there are approximately 150 employees currently at the Gosselies site and that Catalent’s intention is to “close the site only” while adding the CDMO is “engaged with the local Works Council and other stakeholders” during the consultation period.

Unions hope to be able to find other solutions to an outright closure, according to RTL, including a cessation of activity or a partial takeover by other companies.

Catalent joins other CDMOs who have recently decided to scale back cell and gene therapy facilities or completely exit the market due to overcapacity and weak demand. Changes in leadership at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and several recent high-profile adverse safety events in gene therapy trials have demonstrated the risk and volatility of the sector.

Maryland facilities under pressure

In August 2025, Catalent confirmed workforce reductions at its Baltimore gene therapy facility, with approximately 350 employees affected. The layoff was first reported by BioBuzz and later verified by Pharma Manufacturing.

A Catalent spokesperson said the cuts were linked to an unexpected shift in demand from a large customer. While the spokesperson did not disclose the company, it is widely believed to be Sarepta Therapeutics whose flagship Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys was hit with regulatory scrutiny and restrictions, following patient deaths.

Making matters worse, the FDA last year hit Catalent with Form 483 observations for the CDMO’s gene therapy facilities in Maryland, which were issued at the conclusion of the agency’s inspections of those sites.

“We take all observations seriously and provided a complete and thorough response to address the agency findings,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Pharma Manufacturing.    

Still, Catalent’s gene therapy business continues to see strong growth with plans to support customers in the development of genetic disease treatments, according to the CDMO, which was acquired by Novo Holdings for $16.5 billion in late 2024.

In October 2024, Catalent CEO Alessandro Maselli in an open letter to customers said Catalent’s network of 50 global sites — once acquired by Novo Holdings — would continue to “offer fill and finish services for sterile products for large and small molecules, including gene and cell therapies — areas in which we continue to invest and expand.”

Maselli told Pharma Manufacturing in a July 2025 interview that due to Catalent’s investment and capital expenditures over the last five years, the CDMO has the capabilities and capacity to “take advantage of the opportunities in biologics and other new modalities” including cell and gene therapies.

Fundamentals strong, despite setbacks 

David McErlane, Catalent’s biologics group president, told Pharma Manufacturing during the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM26) — held earlier this month in San Francisco — that it’s been an interesting two years for the company.

“We’ve gone through a big transition with the business — but despite that, business continues to do well,” McErlane said. “In 2025, we had a very strong year. We’re growing with the market from a revenues point of view. We are doing well commercially. We’ve had a couple of commercial programs that provided some setback, but the fundamentals in the business are really strong.”

McErlane contends there are “many tools” in Catalent’s “biologics toolbox” including cell and gene therapies — an area where he believes the CDMO is a leader.

At the JPM26 conference earlier this month, Catalent announced a nonexclusive license agreement with biopharma company SmartCella to use Catalent’s proprietary off-the-shelf, GMP-compliant induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for research, development, and clinical translation of novel allogeneic stem cell-based regenerative therapies. The deal supports R&D for regenerative medicines targeting cardiac disease and Parkinson’s disease.

“For cell therapies, there’s a great array of capabilities that Catalent has,” McErlane said. “We have iPSCs — induced pluripotent stem cells — that we license to customers or we can support customers.” He noted that the company also manufactures plasmids which are “an important part of the cell and gene therapy workflow.”

When it comes to gene therapies, McErlane believes Catalent’s capabilities and scale are unmatched in the CDMO space. At the company’s site in Maryland, he says Catalent has “developed more than 100 different gene therapy molecules and commercialized several of them.”