VBL offloading Israel gene therapy plant for $7.1m

Following the failure of its ovarian cancer gene therapy candidate, VBL Therapeutics is selling its manufacturing facility in Modiin, Israel for $7.1 million.

With $22 million in support from the Israel Innovation Authority of the Ministry of Economy, VBL opened the 20,000 square foot facility in October 2017 to produce its gene therapy candidate, ofranergene obadenovec (VB-111).

However, in July 2022, the biotech announced the candidate did not meet the primary endpoints of achieving a statistically significant improvement in a Phase III trial and chose to terminate the program.

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AndriiSt

Thus, the firm has sold the plant to an undisclosed bidder, raising $7.1 million to “support general ongoing activities,” we were told.

The facility was the first commercial-scale gene therapy manufacturing facility to open in Israel and boasts large-scale capacity of 1,000 L and is scalable to 2,000 L.

VBL has had a turbulent time since VB-111 failed in the late-stage trial. In August, the firm cut its workforce by 35%.

The firm is still pinning hope on its current candidate VN-601, a monoclonal antibody for immune-inflammatory applications set to enter clinical trials.