OmniaBio opens largest dedicated CGT CDMO facility in Canada

Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) OmniaBio announced the opening of its new cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) center of excellence in McMaster Innovation Park, located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The 120,000 square-foot facility cost CAD 580 million ($417 million) to build and will create 250 jobs.

OmniaBio provides services for companies from preclinical through commercial manufacturing. The new facility is designed to enable the firm to expand its outreach across North America.

Mitchel Sivilotti, CEO of OmniaBio said that the new Ontario facility is the largest CGT CDMO in Canada. He praised the province for its talent pool and “academic institutions that are producing highly skilled staff that would go into either research or manufacturing.”

“This new facility puts us in a unique position as a specialist commercial CGT manufacturing leader tackling the toughest disease challenges head-on by combining an experienced team with advanced tools and solutions,” he said.

The facility will have a dedicated staff-training infrastructure and specialize in both cell and vector-focused manufacturing using robotics, biosensors, and machine learning technologies while supporting needs such as critical cold-chain logistics. The company’s AI-enhanced manufacturing will focus on cellular immunotherapies and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based therapies.

The facility’s first commercial project will be for South Korean stem-cell therapeutics developer Medipost to manufacture its allogeneic umbilical-cord-blood–derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) product CARTISTEM, which is used to treat patients with osteoarthritis caused by degeneration. Medipost acquired a 39.6% stake in OmniaBio in 2022 after investing about $64.8 million through shares and convertible bonds.

"For two decades, Medipost has been advancing cord blood stem-cell therapies from basic science to successful commercialization,” said Antonio Lee, president and co-CEO of Medipost. “As demonstrated by the recent complete enrollment of our Phase III CARTISTEM trial in Japan and our plan for a Phase III trial in the US, Medipost is fast becoming a global company, and our investment in OmniaBio is an investment in this future."