Vor Biopharma plans to build a cell therapy manufacturing facility to make supplies for clinical trials.

The facility – at Vor’s Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters – will make hematopoietic stem cell and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) candidates for trials. Construction is expected to complete in 2022.

According to Vor, positioning all its production processes under one roof will reduce production costs and accelerate timelines.

Image: iStock/syahrir maulana

The firm told BioProcess Insider: “By integrating its internal research, process development, analytical development, manufacturing, and quality control testing capabilities under one roof, Vor will have end-to-end oversight over drug product for its planned clinical trials.

“This is a critical part of Vor’s strategy as it continues to advance clinical development of its pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cell therapies to create next-generation, treatment-resistant transplants that unlock the potential of targeted cancer therapies.”

Vor went on to say that “the best way to control clinical development of these novel therapies is to control the manufacturing of them internally, which is why the company decided to build a manufacturing facility in-house.”

It expects the facility to be involved in commercial production if any of its cell therapies are approved. The firm also announced plans to hire additional staff over the next few years.

Vor set up its headquarters last July, leasing 33,000 square feet of space from site owner Longfellow Real Estate Partners.

The manufacturing facility announcement also comes a few months after Vor completed its initial public offering (IPO), listing on the Nasdaq Global Market in a move that raised $203.4 million.

Pipeline

Vor’s focus is the development of cell therapies for cancer. Its approach is to engineer hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs), turning them into treatment-resistant transplants that “unlock the potential of targeted therapies.”

According to the firm “By removing biologically redundant proteins from eHSCs, we design these cells and their progeny to be treatment-resistant to complementary targeted therapies, thereby enabling these therapies to selectively destroy cancerous cells while sparing healthy cells.”

Vor’s lead eHSC product candidate is VOR33. Both the US FDA and Health Canada have cleared the therapy for clinical trials for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).