Pall agrees to develop New Jersey cell and gene therapy sites
The New Jersey-based centres will be the Cell and Gene Therapy Development Center and the Center of Advanced Biologic Manufacturing, which will be utilised to progress the manufacture of new cell and gene therapies.
According to the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), the Cell and Gene Therapy Development Center will focus on how to integrate newly created process technologies and how the workforce works with such equipment. Specifically, the centre will look to find manufacturing solutions for the next generation of cell-based immunotherapies.
Complementing this approach will be the Center of Advanced Biologic Manufacturing that will be utilised to address issues of the mass production of such therapies. The centre will attempt to find solutions to the ongoing viral vector shortage in the industry by developing its own solutions, as well as looking into continuous bioprocessing.
“If we're going to tackle the industry's productivity challenges, we need to think smart and invest in finding innovative manufacturing solutions, for example through continuous bioprocessing. NJII is doing remarkable work in this area and we're very excited to partner with them on this innovative program,” explained Peter Levison, Pall's executive director business development.
The state of New Jersey has seen increased investment from the biopharma industry during recent years. Notably, Teva decided to relocate its US headquarters to the state, after New Jersey’s economic development authority offered tax savings of $40m (€34m) in return.
On the biologics side of investment, a number of companies have invested in the state recently to house their manufacturing facilities; Oncobiologics constructed a commercial manufacturing site for the commercialisation of monoclonal antibody biosimilars recently, and Hitachi Chemical expanded its cell therapy manufacturing site in the state.
