Research will be carried out at CBMG’s facility at the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in Shanghai, with the aim being to develop a cell production and preparation system.
A GE Healthcare spokeswoman told us "the project will be focused to integrate GE technologies Sefia, Sepax 2, Xuri, SmartMax, and consumables, as well as our newly announced Asymptote VIA Freeze product line into CBMG Car-T and stem cell manufacturing process."
She added that: "The agreement spans two years, with option to extend."
The firms also plan to install CAR-T and stem cell manufacturing capacity at CBMG’s plants in Wuxi and Beijing.
CBMG has a total 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space at its sites. The firm claims that, if operating at full production volumes, its facilities could “support the treatment of up to 10,000 cancer patients and 10,000 knee osteoarthritis patients per year.”
GE Healthcare has co-developed a number of biopharma facilities in China with companies including Pfizer, JHL and BeiGene. However, as the spokeswoman confirmed "this is the first cell therapy project in this scope that we publicly announce for collaboration in China."
Asymptote acquisition
In related news, GE announced it has acquired Asymptote Limited, a UK-based cryochain technology supplier for sensitive cellular therapies.
The deal - terms of which were not provided - "fills a critical gap in GE Healthcare’s end-to-end ecosystem of products and services for cell therapy production" according to the firm.