Excellos Selected as Decentralized Manufacturing Unit to Support Galapagos’ CAR-T Cell Therapy Clinical Study Close to Cancer Treatment Centers in the San Diego Area
Excellos is the first decentralized manufacturing unit (DMU) within the nationwide network of Blood Centers of America to be selected for Good Manufacturing Compliant (GMP) manufacturing for Galapagos’ CAR-T hemato-oncology program.
SAN DIEGO. CA, October 01, 2024, Excellos Inc., a cell therapy contract and development manufacturing organization (CDMO) member of Blood Centers of America (BCA), today announced that it has been selected to manufacture Galapagos’ CAR-T cell therapy candidate, GLPG5101, for its recently FDA cleared ATALANTA-1 clinical study in patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the U.S.
Galapagos (Euronext & Nasdaq: GLPG) is a clinical stage biotechnology company with operations in Europe and the U.S. dedicated to developing transformational medicines for more years of life and quality of life across the globe.
Excellos was selected upon completion of an extensive site audit and assessment process and will provide end-to-end manufacturing of Galapagos’ CAR-T cell therapy on Galapagos’ platform at Excellos’ new purpose-built manufacturing facility in downtown San Diego, CA.
Galapagos’ innovative, decentralized manufacturing platform could address many of the limitations that CAR-T cell therapy production is currently facing. It has the potential to offer greater speed and scalability, with the delivery of fresh, fit cells with a median vein-to-vein time of seven days and the possibility for greater physician control and improved patient experience.
“We are excited to manufacture Galapagos’ CAR-T cell therapy candidate using their decentralized manufacturing platform. This collaboration will enable the efficient production and delivery of fresh, fit CAR-T cell therapies within a median vein-to-vein time of seven days,” said Thomas VanCott, CEO of Excellos. “Our team is proud to have demonstrated our agility in initiating technology transfer, our state-of-the-art facility, and our expertise in executing production and analytics, all of which are critical to advancing this groundbreaking therapy.”
This project represents the first site initiation under the recently announced strategic collaboration between Galapagos’ U.S. entity GLPG US, Inc. and BCA. Under this agreement, BCA’s national network of blood centers will provide decentralized manufacturing services for Galapagos’ CAR-T cell therapy product candidates, close to cancer treatment centers across the U.S.
“Blood Centers of America is pleased to be actively engaged with Galapagos in site identification, assessment and initiation to build a nationwide decentralized cell therapy manufacturing network,” stated Bill Block, President/CEO of BCA. “The Excellos project is enabled by the broader agreement between BCA and Galapagos which allowed Excellos to move efficiently from site assessment to the start of technology transfer. BCA will use the insights from this first initiation to accelerate the integration of multiple BCA sites into Galapagos’ decentralized manufacturing network, with the goal of providing patients convenient access to our local facilities and healthcare providers within their communities.”
About Excellos
Excellos provides custom cGMP services to develop and manufacture cell therapies. Featuring proprietary cell characterization technologies, Excellos reduces variabilities in clinical responses and increases the probability of successful outcomes. Current applications support TIL-based therapies, autologous and allogeneic CAR-T/NK therapies and TCR therapies. Customized services include donor recruitment, cell isolation, transduction, expansion and scale up GMP production. Learn more at www.excellos.com.
About Galapagos
Galapagos is a biotechnology company with operations in Europe and the U.S. dedicated to developing transformational medicines for more years of life and quality of life. Focusing on high unmet medical needs, the company synergizes compelling science, technology, and collaborative approaches to create a deep pipeline of best-in-class small molecules and cell therapies in oncology and immunology. With capabilities from lab to patient, including a decentralized cell therapy manufacturing network, Galapagos is committed to challenging the status quo and delivering results for its patients, employees and shareholders. For additional information, please visit www.glpg.com or follow Galapagos on LinkedIn or X.
About BCA Advanced Therapies Network
The Blood Centers of America (BCA) Advanced Therapies Network leverages the largest blood supply network in the United States. BCA members manage over half of the US blood and blood component supply through 500+ facilities in 43 states operated by ~70 independent member entities serving their local community and regional hospitals. Within the BCA ATN there are already ~14 sites with ISO7-compliant clean room facilities in place and BCA is actively engaged in planning new sites and capacity where needed. Additionally, the BCA ATN includes over 400 apheresis machines with corresponding beds and nursing staff to support autologous apheresis collections and decentralized manufacturing. With the largest network of facilities in advanced therapies, BCA ATN brings unparalleled and coordinated access members and clients with a vast array of service offerings related to starting material, testing, quality control, cryopreservation, manufacturing and clinical applications. To learn more, visit: bcaadvancedtherapies.com.
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