Kite Pharma Opens New Cell Therapy Manufacturing Plant
Kite Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous T-cell therapy products for the treatment of cancer, has opened a new 43,500-square-foot, commercial manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California. The facility has been designed to produce chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) product candidates for clinical trials, as well as for the potential launch and commercialization of Kite’s lead CAR T-cell product candidate, KTE-C19, which is in clinical study for the treatment of chemorefractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and other B-cell malignancies. Kite anticipates commercial launch of KTE-C19 in 2017.
The facility is estimated to have the capacity to produce up to 5,000 patient therapies per year. The plant’s location, adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport, is intended to expedite receipt and shipment of engineered T-cells from and to patients across the United States and Europe.
KTE-C19 is an investigational therapy in which a patient’s T-cells are genetically modified to express a CAR that is designed to target the antigen CD19, a protein expressed on the cell surface of B-cell lymphomas and leukemias. Kite is currently enrolling four pivotal studies for KTE-C19 in patients with various B-cell malignancies.
Source: Kite Pharma