Seeking to differentiate itself from other makers of CAR-T cancer therapies, Galapagos NV on Wednesday announced it had struck a deal with Blood Centers of America to open up dozens of manufacturing sites for its cell-based medicines around the U.S.
Galapagos said it will rely on the partnership, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, as it moves its CAR-Ts for different cancers into pivotal studies and could also help launch those medicines should they win approval. The Belgian company framed the collaboration as one that could help overcome the limitations that have held back access to existing CAR-T therapies from other companies.
CAR-Ts have proven to be potent treatments for certain cancers, but they are complicated medicines to make. Immune cells have to be removed from a patient, shipped to specialty sites, where they’re engineered with cancer-killing abilities, and then returned to the hospital for infusion back into patients. The process, which can take weeks if not months, has put a crunch on the number of patients companies and hospitals are able to treat.
