Fujifilm has signed an agreement with Atara Biotherapeutics to acquire the latter’s cell therapy manufacturing facility in California, US, for a total of $100m.
The 90,000ft² manufacturing facility, Atara T-cell Operations and Manufacturing (ATOM), supports clinical and commercial cell therapy manufacturing and is readily expandable.
The company intends to operate the new facility through its subsidiary Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB), a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO).
With the acquisition, FDB and the group are enabled to strengthen their position as a provider of comprehensive manufacturing solutions for advanced therapies.
The transaction is expected to be closed in April this year, subject to the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and other customary closing conditions.
Upon closing, Fujifilm is anticipated to recruit around 140 current highly-skilled manufacturing and quality staff for the new facility.
FDB CEO Martin Meeson said: “We are thrilled that through this acquisition we will add approximately 140 talented staff from Atara’s cell therapy manufacturing facility to the Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies family.
“The collective expertise of the team will further support our efforts as a world-class CDMO. We also look forward to adding the facility to Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ existing global footprint and to bolster the expansion of our advanced therapies CDMO business.”
As part of the transaction, FDB and Atara will enter into long-term manufacturing and services agreement that can be extended to ten years.
The agreement supports the production of Atara’s clinical pipeline, which comprises tabelecleucel (tab-cel) for Epstein-Barr virus positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV+PTLD).
According to Fujifilm, the new cell-therapy manufacturing facility will advance FDB’s global CDMO manufacturing footprint to the US West Coast.
Also, it complements the company’s existing advanced therapy market in College Station, Texas, Watertown, Massachusetts, and its recently announced BioCampus in the UK.
Atara president and CEO Pascal Touchon said: “Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is a highly respected industry-leading manufacturing and development organization that shares our pioneering culture and belief that allogeneic cell therapies will transform the future of medicine.
“Our team has developed processes for our products, scaled them up, and built inventory for clinical trials and the commercial launch of tab-cel.
“We believe that now is the right time for a strategic relationship with Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies to give us access to the expert manufacturing capability Atara will require, when needed.”
