FUJIFILM Corporation has completed the acquisition of a dedicated cell therapy manufacturing facility from Atara Biotherapeutics for USD $100 million.
The facility located in Thousand Oaks, California, will be operated as part of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ global network, which is a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation, and a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).
The 90,000 sq ft site is readily expandable to add capacity and has the flexibility to produce both clinical and commercial cell therapies including allogeneic T-cell and CAR T immunotherapies. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies will retain 134 employees in manufacturing and quality positions at the site.
As part of a long-term manufacturing and services agreement, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies will support the production of Atara’s promising clinical and commercial-stage allogeneic cell therapies at the site, including tabelecleucel (tab-cel®), currently in phase 3 clinical development and under review to support registration in Europe, for the treatment of Epstein-Barr virus positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV+PTLD).
“FUJIFILM Corporation has invested over USD $5.5 billion to grow the Bio CDMO business unit in order to provide our customers with long-term support across a full-range of modalities, and manufacturing scales,” said Takatoshi Ishikawa, senior executive vice president, general manager Bio CDMO Division, FUJIFILM Corporation. “With the addition of the dedicated site in California, Fujifilm continues to build for the future to meet the growing need of advanced therapies globally.”
“We are excited to welcome 134 new team members to the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies family today with the acquisition of the dedicated cell therapy manufacturing facility. Growing our world-class talent and knowledge in manufacturing of advanced therapies is vital to our continued success in supporting our partners in advancing tomorrow’s medicines,” added Martin Meeson, Chief Executive Officer, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies. “With the new site’s talent, strategic location on the West Coast, and potential for future capacity growth, we are confident that we will help our partners deliver T cell and CAR-T therapies to offer patients hope.”
The facility is the newest addition to FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ global portfolio of manufacturing sites which include facilities in College Station, Texas, USA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA, Teesside, UK, and Hillerød, Denmark.
