Be Bio and Resilience Announce Strategic Collaboration to Manufacture Engineered B Cells, a New Class of Cellular Medicines
Be Biopharma, Inc. (“Be Bio”) and National Resilience, Inc. (Resilience) announced a strategic collaboration to advance initial programs in Be Bio’s rare disease pipeline. Be Bio’s proprietary engineered B Cell Medicines (BeCM) platform is harnessing the power of the human B cell to create a new class of autologous and allogeneic cellular medicines that durably and redosably produce therapeutic proteins in vivo without toxic pre-conditioning.
The two companies are investing to drive innovation and reliability in cell therapy manufacturing, a critical success factor for broad and meaningful patient impact. As part of this unique partnership, Resilience will dedicate personnel solely to produce and supply Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)-grade viral vector and cell therapy drug product for the initial programs in Be Bio’s rare disease pipeline. Through a creative cost and risk-sharing model, Resilience will be responsible for manufacturing costs and receive potential future milestones and royalties.
“Over the past year, Be Bio has built a strong foundation with our BeCM platform, pipeline, team, and recent $130 million financing. Manufacturing is critical to rapidly progress our BeCMs to the clinic and we have built non-GMP manufacturing capabilities in our Cambridge facility. This deal allows us to drive GMP manufacturing with an outstanding partner, and in a capital efficient manner,” said Joanne Smith-Farrell, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Be Bio. “Resilience’s broad manufacturing capabilities, strong collaborative spirit and dedicated resources to our platform, make them an ideal partner for our BeCM programs.”
Resilience will lead clinical GMP manufacturing of both the viral vector and the cell therapy drug product for Be Bio’s initial rare disease programs to support first-in-human clinical trials. Resilience will apply its pioneering bioprocessing solutions and network of cell therapy sites, including facilities in Research Triangle Park, NC, Philadelphia, PA, Waltham, MA and Marlborough, MA to conduct the work.
“This collaboration shows our excitement for the promising science of Be Bio’s proprietary BeCM platforms, and our confidence in their expertise to deliver transformative cell therapies,” said Rahul Singhvi, Sc.D., Chief Executive Officer of Resilience. “By working alongside Be Bio early in the drug development process, we aim to accelerate the development of their B cell medicines with the potential to unlock a pipeline of product candidates across a variety of serious diseases.”