Kite to expand cell therapy production capabilities

USA-based biotech Kite Pharma, which was acquired in 2017 by Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) in a transaction valued at around $12 billion, has announced plans for a new facility in Frederick County, Maryland, which will produce innovative cell therapies for people with cancer.

The 20-acre site will significantly expand Kite’s ability to manufacture a variety of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) therapies, including Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), Kite’s first commercially available CAR-T cancer therapy, and investigational T cell receptor (TCR) cell therapies being evaluated in solid tumors.

“This new facility in Frederick County builds on our substantial technical capabilities and rapid progress in making personalized CAR-T and TCR cell therapies for people with cancer. As we advance our industry-leading cell therapy pipeline and seek to help a growing number of people with cancer, expanding and investing in our manufacturing capabilities is essential,” said Tim Moore, executive vice president of technical operations at Kite. “With the Frederick County site, we will have the opportunity to build and design the facility tailored to our own innovative processes and with state-of-the-art features that will enable us to meet the future needs for cell therapies,” he added.