KBI Biopharma expands services, including cell therapy manufacturing, through acquisition
Acquisition provides fully equipped facilities for the development and manufacture of clinical stage cellular therapy products, including three ISO7 cGMP manufacturing suites, extensive flow cytometry and analytical infrastructure.
KBI Biopharma has acquired the manufacturing and laboratory assets of Opexa Therapeutics and has assumed Opexa’s lease for a 10,200 sq. ft. cGMP manufacturing facility in The Woodlands, Texas, effective 1 February 2017. This acquisition provides fully equipped facilities for the development and manufacture of clinical-stage cellular therapy products, including three ISO7 cGMP manufacturing suites, extensive flow cytometry and analytical infrastructure, and proven logistics and warehousing operations. Under Opexa management, the facility successfully manufactured autologous cell therapy products for five clinical trials, including two large Phase IIb trials.
KBI has named Donald Healey, formerly the Chief Scientific Officer of Opexa Therapeutics, as Senior Vice President of Operations and Site Head for its new Houston-area cell therapy facility.
“Expansion into cell therapy development and manufacturing is a key strategic initiative for KBI,” stated Tim Kelly, President of KBI. “Cellular therapies are truly changing the course of health care for some of our most challenging disease indications, and the biopharmaceutical industry needs contract development and manufacturing solutions to accelerate delivery of these innovative products to patients. We are especially excited to welcome Opexa’s highly regarded team of cell therapy experts to KBI. This acquisition continues KBI’s tradition of building cGMP biopharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities on a foundation of exceptionally strong analytical and process development expertise.”
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