FUJIFILM acquires new cell therapy manufacturing facility

FUJIFILM Corporation has completed its $100 million acquisition of Atara Biotherapeutics’ dedicated cell therapy manufacturing facility in Thousand Oaks, California, US.

The facility will be operated as part of FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ global contract development and manufacturing network, which is a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation.

The company stated that the 90,000 sq. ft. site is readily expandable and has the flexibility to produce both clinical and commercial cell therapies including allogeneic T-cell and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T immunotherapies. FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies will retain 134 employees in manufacturing and quality positions at the site.

As part of a long-term manufacturing and services agreement, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies will support the production of Atara’s clinical and commercial-stage allogeneic cell therapies at the site, including tabelecleucel (tab-cel^®), currently in Phase III clinical development for the treatment of Epstein-Barr virus positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV+PTLD).

“FUJIFILM Corporation has invested over $5.5 billion to grow the Bio CDMO business unit in order to provide our customers with long-term support across a full-range of modalities and manufacturing scales,” stated Takatoshi Ishikawa, senior executive vice president, general manager Bio CDMO Division, FUJIFILM Corporation. “With the addition of the dedicated site in California, Fujifilm continues to build for the future to meet the growing need of advanced therapies globally.”

The facility is the newest addition to FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ global portfolio of manufacturing sites which include facilities in College Station, Texas, US; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, US; Teesside, UK; and Hillerød, Denmark.