Axovant and Yposkesi Sign Strategic Gene Therapy Development and Manufacturing Partnership

Axovant GEne Therapies (NASDAQ:AXGT) has announced it has signed a partnership with Yposkesi.

As quoted in the press release:

nder this strategic collaboration, Yposkesi will provide expertise in process development, technology transfer, manufacturing scale-up, quality control and quality assurance. The ongoing prioritized access for manufacturing resources will support Axovant’s gene therapy programs as they proceed through development and commercialization, with an initial focus on the AAV-based gene therapies.

“This partnership is expected to provide Axovant with sufficient manufacturing capacity to deliver our gene therapies to patients at scale, a key component for the continued development of our gene therapy pipeline,” said Pavan Cheruvu, chief executive officer of Axovant. “Partnering with Yposkesi’s global leaders and experts in cGMP-grade vector production strengthens our commitment to building a team with unmatched experience in gene therapy development. With reserved manufacturing capacity and dedicated suite space for Axovant and planned expansions in production capacity, Yposkesi is a preferred manufacturing partner. We look forward to working closely with its team.”

Yposkesi is the largest European CDMO for gene therapy with capabilities to expand manufacturing for AAV and lentiviral vector production in its current 50,000 ft2 (approx. 5,000 m2) state-of-the-art facility, which houses multiple independent manufacturing suites. By 2021, Yposkesi plans to increase this footprint to 100,000 ft2 (approx. 10,000m2) to expand capacity with additional large-scale bioreactors (1,000 L) to further support growing demand for production. As a spin out from Genethon, a pioneer in the discovery and development of gene therapies, Yposkesi has 25 years of experience in GMP development and manufacturing and a team of over 150 scientific, industrial and technical specialists.  Yposkesi’s current manufacturing processes comply with both European Medicines Agency (EMA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) manufacturing requirements.

Click here to read the full press release.