Novartis has opened a new cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility at its site in Stein, Switzerland. The site currently houses production for liquid and solid drugs.

Cell and gene therapies require the manufacture of a personal dose for each patient. In the manufacturing process, patients have a small amount of their own blood cells taken, which are then sent to the site in Stein, where part of the white blood cells, the T cells, are enriched and genetically modified to recognize and fight cancer cells in the patient’s blood. The altered cells are then sent back to a hospital and administered to the patient by infusion.

The new building manufactures chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T cell) therapies as well as hosts the production of difficult-to-manufacture solid dosage forms. In September 2019, the first clinical production of a cell and gene therapy batch was successfully completed.

Source: Novartis