New US cell therapy manufacturing facility for Takeda opened

Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4502) says it has expanded its US cell therapy manufacturing capabilities with the opening of a new 24,000 square-foot R&D cell therapy manufacturing facility at its R&D headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

The facility provides end-to-end research and development capabilities and will accelerate Takeda’s efforts to develop next-generation cell therapies, initially focused on oncology with potential to expand into other therapeutic areas.

“We are collaborating with some of the best scientists and innovators around the world establishing a highly differentiated immuno-oncology pipeline leapfrogging into new modalities and mechanisms with curative potential,” said Chris Arendt, head of Takeda’s Oncology Therapeutic Area Unit. “With three oncology cell therapy programs in the clinic and two more targeted to enter the clinic in fiscal year 2021, we are working with urgency and purpose for patients. This new facility helps us rapidly scale our manufacturing capabilities so we can simultaneously advance multiple highly differentiated cell therapy programs,” he noted.