GSK expands its clinical trial manufacturing capacity at dedicated CGT facility in UK

15-Mar-2021 - Last updated on 15-Mar-2021 at 13:25 GMT

Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) says that GSK will leverage its Stevenage facility to perform GMP cell processing and accelerate its cell and gene therapy pipeline for clinical trials.

Through this agreement, GSK is looking to improve its GMP cell processing network to advance its early stage pipeline and streamline technical transfer.

“The move by a leading pharmaceutical company like GSK to establish ATMP manufacturing capabilities at the CGT Catapult facility in Stevenage highlights the UK’s globally leading position for large and smaller organizations alike to develop, manufacture and deliver cell and gene therapies,” said Matthew Durdy, CEO, CGT Catapult.

The UK has now more than 90 developers of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP), and, in 2020, saw an increase of 48% in the UK GMP manufacturing space for cell and gene therapies.

Accelerated ATMP development

CGT Catapult said its set-up enables developers to accelerate ATMP manufacture at scale:

“Access to the capabilities, supply chain and cluster in and around the CTC Catapult will enable faster development; the facility offers a unique collaborative model that allows companies to take advantage of infrastructure and support to expedite their setup of clinical material manufacturing. Coupled with the unique licensing model and proven comprehensive on-boarding process, establishment of manufacture is simplified and hastened,” Durdy told BioPharma-Reporter.

The six additional cleanrooms at the CGT Catapult facility, installed in 2019, were said to be key to the deal. The facility has a total of 12 cleanroom modules.

The facility supports ATMP manufacture by multiple companies, which are in segregated manufacturing modules, ensuring complete confidentiality and independence of operation, said Durdy.

There are now seven collaborator companies in CGT Catapult, Stevenage - Achilles, Adaptimmune, Autolus, Freeline, TCR2, Rentschler Biopharma, and GSK - along with CDMOs and therapy developers of different sizes.

“With a range of collaborators already based in the facility, we look forward to participating in the collective innovation onsite to pioneer the growth in scale of advanced therapy manufacturing,” added the chief executive.

Tony Wood, senior VP, medicinal science and technology, GSK, also commented: “Working more closely with CGT Catapult will help us advance our promising cell and gene therapy program, and bring these transformative medicines more quickly to the patients who desperately need them.”