Catalent bolsters pDNA biz with Promethera buy

Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent has acquired Promethera’s cell therapy manufacturing subsidiary, Hepatic Cell Therapy Support (HCTS).

No financial details have been disclosed.

Catalent gains a 32,400 square-foot plant located on in Gosselies, Belgium. The facility will be used for commercial-scale plasmid DNA (pDNA) production and is next to the Delphi Genetics building, which the firm acquired in February expanding its pDNA offering.

Image/iStock: SB

“With this investment, Catalent will now be able to offer cell therapy and gene therapy customers a fully horizontal offering, from the provision of critical raw materials such as plasmid DNA, to clinical supply services,” Colleen Floreck, vice president of Marketing and Strategy at Catalent Cell and Gene Therapy told us.

She continued: “This level of supply chain oversight can be critical to the success of advanced therapeutics. The ability to add commercial-scale plasmid DNA manufacturing not only offers increased support for Catalent’s current customers, but also the opportunity to support the broader plasmid DNA market.”

According to the CDMO, the HCTS site has a cleanroom, warehouse space, and process development and quality control workrooms, which will be equipped to manufacture pDNA up to the 500 L scale.

Equipping the facility is anticipated to begin immediately and “Catalent will focus on adding large-scale bioreactors and additional mid-scale bioreactor capacity to expand those that Delphi Genetics already has in place,” Floreck said.

200+ jobs

More than 200 operational, technical, and scientific job roles are expected to be filled over the next five years on the back of the acquisition.

“Catalent will be recruiting scientists and experts for technical and operational roles, including positions to support microbial fermentation processing at both the clinical and commercial-scale plasmid DNA capabilities at the site,” said Floreck.

She said it will complement “the current Delphi Genetics team, these new roles will allow for a more rapid scale-up in the business offering. Additionally, for cell therapy manufacturing operations on the Gosselies campus, there are currently many open positions, and continued growth is expected across the Gosselies facilities.”

This is the third acquisition in Gosselies for Catalent, following the $315 million purchase in March 2020 of Masthercell and the aforementioned Delphi facility.