PharmaCell Finalizes Purchase of Cell Therapy Production Facility

PharmaCell BV, a leading contract manufacturing organization for cellular therapies and regenerative medicine in Europe, has finalized its purchase of the state-of-the-art cell therapy production facility from TiGenix NV. TiGenix, a leading European cell therapy company has been producing its marketed product for cartilage repair, ChondroCelect at the site in Sittard-Geleen, close to Maastricht (The Netherlands), since the beginning of 2013.

ChondroCelect will continue to be manufactured at the facility as before under a long-term CMO agreement with TiGenix. PharmaCell has acquired the facility, including its qualified team of employees in Production, QC, QA and other functions that bring many years of experience in cell therapy manufacturing into the organization.

Following the acquisition, PharmaCell will continue to operate its Maastricht facility in addition to the site at Sittard-Geleen. The Maastricht facility offers non-GMP process development and flexible GMP-production facilities for early- to mid-stage clinical trials in cell therapy. The Cell Manufacturing Facility Geleen will offer clients the opportunity to support late stage clinical trials and commercial production for the industry. Taken together, PharmaCell offers a comprehensive contract manufacturing service package for cell therapy companies along the development pathway from translational work all the way to the commercial stage. With both TiGenix (ChondroCelect) and Dendreon Corporation (for Provenge) as partners, the company has two commercial cell therapy products under contract. In addition, work is ongoing on early-stage clinical trials and translational projects.

Alexander Vos, CEO of PharmaCell BV said: “We are very pleased to have concluded the transaction with TiGenix. We believe PharmaCell now offers a unique manufacturing platform in Europe to support the growth of the cell therapy and regenerative medicine industry in future years. We look forward to discuss plans for a future collaboration with interested parties.”