Catapult Stevenage site

Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult doubles capacity at UK site

pharmafile | September 26, 2019 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications  

The United Kingdom’s Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) has added six additional modules of cleanroom space at its manufacturing centre in Stevenage with first collaborations to start at the beginning of 2020.

CGT catapult provides the infrastructure and expertise to enable companies to develop their manufacturing capabilities and systems for large scale, commercial cell and gene therapy supply.

CGT catapult has been seeing increased demand and the centre which has been fully operational since April 2019 achieved MHRA licence in last month in August.

Depending on the process, each module can accommodate 20 parallel autologous cell processes or a bioreactor process up to 1,000L bioreactors for allogeneic cell or viral vector manufacture.

Dr. Ian Campbell, Interim Executive-Chair, Innovate UK for UK Research and Innovation, said: “In its first year and a half, the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult manufacturing centre has gone from strength to strength and has established itself as a crucial part of the UKs’ medicines infrastructure.”

“This world-leading centre is bringing manufacturing of pioneering treatments closer to patients and will complement the new Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres. By bridging the gap between scientific research and commercialisation of the medicines of the future, this centre, which we are proud to support, will plan an ever-greater role in this vital sector.”

The centre is backed by over £75 million of funding, including investment from the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund; the department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency and from the European Regional Development Fund.

Keith Thompson, CEO at Catapult added: “We can now collaborate potentially with up to a further six companies to support them in developing their GMP manufacturing processes, preparing for large scale and commercial supply.”

Nik Kiran

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