Rentschler Biopharma SE announced that the company has entered into a strategic collaboration with Genmab for the process development and manufacture of bispecific antibodies generated with Genmab’s DuoBody technology platform. This partnership uses an innovative business model which fits well with the expansion plans for Rentschler Biopharma’s U.S. site in Milford, MA.
Federico Pollano, Senior Vice President Business Development at Rentschler Biopharma, said: “We are excited to expand our strategic partnership with Genmab, a leading biotech specializing in the creation and development of differentiated antibody therapeutics, to our U.S. facility. In this new age of personalized medicine, breakthrough molecules, and complex therapies, Rentschler Biopharma welcomes the opportunity to use innovation to empower our clients and ultimately help patients. The work we will do for Genmab at our U.S. site represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration that will involve several novel projects and enable the client to decide in a flexible and agile way which projects to advance and when.”
U.S. site expansion making good progress
Rentschler Biopharma acquired its U.S. site in the greater Boston area in January 2019. The FDA, EMA and Health Canada licensed, 93,000 square foot facility will be qualified as a multi-product site offering clients innovative solutions. The first step in expanding Rentschler Biopharma’s Center of Excellence in North America is a 500 L single-use bioreactor that will be operational by mid-2020. The next steps include another building for large-scale single-use manufacturing and lab capacity for new therapeutic modalities. The company plans to leverage its expertise for client projects through every phase, be it early-stage development or clinical and commercial production. With its innovative and highly flexible business model, the Milford site is already taking on new projects, including complex and difficult-to-manufacture proteins. In total, Rentschler Biopharma intends to continuously invest in these expansions and to hire up to 75 additional people at the site to keep pace with the site development and business growth.
“We are grateful for the trust that Genmab has put in us based on our work for them at our Laupheim site. This extended collaboration with Genmab at our U.S. innovation hub is a perfect fit with our expansion. Our growth will enable us to support our partner at each step of the way as their plans advance and evolve,” said Dr. Frank Mathias, CEO of Rentschler Biopharma. “Since acquiring the U.S site in 2019, we have accomplished a lot and are very pleased our expansion is moving forward as planned and on time. We look forward to bringing in additional innovative projects from both new and existing clients.”