Oxford BioMedica buys decommissioned facility
pharmafile | February 1, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Oxford BioMedica, RecipharmCobra Biologics, manufacturing
Gene therapy specialist Oxford BioMedica has said it plans to acquire a £1.9 million ($3.1m) manufacturing facility from contract manufacturer RecipharmCobra Biologics.
The 16,000 sq. ft. facility in Oxford was originally operated by UK contract manufacturing organisation Cobra Biologics, and was decommissioned when that company was taken over by Swedish CMO Recipharm last year.
Oxford BioMedica said the objective is to allow it to manufacture its gene delivery technology in-house and have greater control over the progress of its gene therapy candidates.
The company currently has two gene delivery projects in the clinic. Its most advanced project is ProSavin, a therapy for Parkinson’s disease which is due to start a phase II trial in 2012. It also has a treatment for age-related macular degeneration called RetinoStat in phase I/II trials, in partnership with Sanofi-Aventis.
It is planning to start trials of additional gene therapies in the coming months, however, and believes that having its own facility will help it achieve this more quickly and cost-effectively, as well as bring therapies through development and onto the market faster.
There are other potential benefits. For example, having its own production suites will allow Oxford BioMedica to develop an additional revenue stream through the contract manufacturing of LentiVector-based therapies on behalf of partner companies, and provide some additional production security, given that it currently sources material from a single facility.
“We look forward to the significant growth of our clinical portfolio from two lead products … to five clinical products using our proprietary LentiVector gene delivery technology,” commented Oxford BioMedica’s chief executive John Dawson.
The acquisition and operation of this manufacturing facility will be funded by the firm’s recent £20 million fundraising, which closed on 10 January. The facility has around 4,400 sq. ft. of cleanroom space and is certified to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards.
Oxford BioMedica says it will take around a year to re-commission the facility and once fully operational, will employ 35 to 40 staff with an annual running cost of approximately £2.2 million.
The acquisition of the facility is expected to complete by the end of February 2011.
Commenting on the sale, Recipharm said the Oxford facility was surplus to requirements as its own facility in Södertälje “provided greater manufacturing capacity and analytical capabilities”.
Phil Taylor
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