The alliance brings together the manufacturing operations of OPi, which specialises in the development of drugs for rare diseases, with the French subsidiary of cancer vaccine specialist AVAX Technologies.
OPISODIA, based in Besancon, will link up with AVAX' Genopoietic unit based in Lyon. The aim of the venture is to perform pharmaceutical development and small and medium-sized manufacturing of biologicals, both for OPi and AVAX but also third parties.
The venture will include a multi-product facility able to develop and manufacture biotechnology agents (e.g. monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins) to current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) standards. It will also be involved in cell and gene therapy.
It will have two manufacturing sites, Lyon and Besancon, which will give enough capacity to conduct several projects in parallel, according to OPi.
"We will combine OPi's significant infrastructure and assets with the know-how that we developed at Genopoietic, and particularly the GMP certification with AFSSaPS, the French Regulatory Body," commented Andres Crespo, Genopoietic's chief executive.
"This will allow us to pursue several new contract relationships including late-stage product opportunities that are poised to begin commercial sales in the short-term," he added.