Catalent pays Erytech $44.5m for NJ cell therapy plant

Catalent has paid Erytech $44.5 million for its 30,900 square-foot facility in New Jersey and will continue to support its lead candidate.

Less than a week after the contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) confirmed a $350 million expansion at its Bloomington, Indiana site, Catalent has acquired a commercial-scale cell therapy manufacturing facility in Princeton, New Jersey from Erytech Pharma for $44.5 million.

The facility is located within the University Square Campus Park and has 16 suites that can be used to make products in a cGMP-compliant manner, as well as laboratories for analytical, quality control and microbiology testing.

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“The site will become a strategic campus for development as well as clinical and commercial scale manufacturing of cell therapies and is located within easy reach of Catalent’s facilities around Baltimore, Maryland, where the company develops and manufactures viral vectors and plasmid DNA. It will also work in collaboration with Catalent’s existing US clinical-scale cell therapy facility in Houston, Texas,” a company spokesperson told BioProcess Insider.

Alongside the acquisition, the firm has agreed to lease an adjacent 23,000-square-foot building that can be used for additional laboratory or cGMP capabilities, as well as another building on the campus for any potential future expansions.

Lead candidate

Under the terms of the deal, the CDMO will support Erytech’s lead candidate eryaspase (GRASPA) by offering its knowledge in commercial manufacturing of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) through product characterization, regulatory inspections, and approval. Furthermore, Catalent will continue to manufacture eryaspase at the New Jersey site.

Eryaspase is a red blood cell-derived product that is in late-stage development to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Additionally, it can act as a therapeutic for other severe forms of cancer and orphan diseases.

“Erytech has a Phase I trial in first-line pancreatic cancer ongoing in the US and is in a continued dialogue with the US FDA regarding a potential BLA submission for GRASPA in ALL, now targeted in the third quarter of 2022, subject to FDA agreement on remaining outstanding information requests,” said the spokesperson.

All staff at the site will transfer to Catalent’s employment, and the company said it is looking at plans for its future recruitment needs.