The deal, set to close later this month, covers all of the Belgian company’s assets including a 3,800 m2 purpose-built CGxP facility and related quality control and product development laboratories, as well as a warehouse, grade C and B cleanrooms and equipment and land for further development.

Following the acquisition, Catalent will carry out manufacturing of clinical material for Bone Therapeutics’ drug, ALLOB, an allogeneic osteoblastic cell therapy product, derived from cultured bone marrow Cells.  

Catalent acquired the Gosselies site in February this year as part of a $315 million takeover of Belgian CDMO MaSTherCell Global. This transaction, which closed in the third quarter, added MaSTherCell’s three sites and some 240 employees to the US company’s portfolio.

The deal with Bone “will immediately expand our functional clinical and commercial capacity for current late-stage customers,” said Manja Boerman, president of Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy.

Catalent is currently building a commercial production and fill-finish facility adjacent to the Bone site and will link the two to create a cell therapy center of excellence there by the end of 2021. In addition, Boerman said, it also will serve as a European hub for the CDMO’s growing cell therapy pipeline.

Miguel Forte, CEO, Bone Therapeutics, called the agreement “an important strategic step” for his company as it continues to optimize operations. The integration of SCTS into Catalent significantly increases operational flexibility by combining the manufacturing facility and specialist operators with the CDMO’s global network, he said, and “this will ensure the most efficient ongoing global production of ALLOB.”

Going forward, Forte said Bone plans to focus on its core activity of developing innovative cell-based treatments for conditions with high unmet medical needs. The deal with Catalent will facilitate its efforts to bring ALLOB more quickly within the reach of patients.

In addition to its expansion in Gosselies, Catalent said validation of its new 3,000 m2 US cell therapy development facility in Houston, Texas is under way and scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist