Amid a global scramble for cell therapy manufacturing capacity, Bristol Myers Squibb has secured a worldwide capacity reservation and supply agreement for the manufacture of CAR T-cell therapies with contract manufacturer, Cellares.
As part of the deal — valued up to $380 million in upfront and milestone payments — Cellares will optimize, automate and tech-transfer select (undisclosed) BMS CAR T-cell therapies onto its automated and high-throughput proprietary manufacturing platform, known as the Cell Shuttle.
According to BMS, the collab allows the drugmaker to expand its manufacturing capacity, meeting the growing demand for its diverse range of cell therapies through a platform that is scalable and has the potential to improve turnaround time, bringing cell therapies to more patients faster.
San Francisco-based Cellares is the first to brand itself as an IDMO — an integrated development and manufacturing organization — promising to deliver in an area where traditional CDMOs have fallen short by taking an Industry 4.0 approach to commercializing today’s most cutting-edge medicines. The company, which revealed a blockbuster $255 million Series C funding round this past August, is backed by a suite of investors, including BMS.
Cellares has two smart factories in the U.S., including its new commercial-scale plant in New Jersey, and near-future plans to break ground on a commercial facility in Belgium followed by one in Japan.
Meanwhile, BMS has also built up its in-house capacity for cell therapy manufacturing, getting the FDA nod last year for commercial production at the company’s newest cell therapy facility in Devens, Massachusetts. The Devens facility adds to the company’s global network of three state-of-the-art cell therapy manufacturing facilities in Bothell, Washington; Warren, New Jersey; and Summit, New Jersey.
