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Bristol Myers Squibb has received FDA approval of commercial production at its newest cell therapy manufacturing facility in Devens, Mass. The Devens site is a critical component of BMS’ expanding global cell therapy manufacturing footprint for long-term supply of the company’s cell therapy portfolio.
Manufacturing autologous cell therapies is both operationally and technically complex because they are uniquely created using an individual patient’s own T cells as the starting material. Each batch of engineered T cells is manufactured individually and infused back to the original cancer patient. It is important to develop reliable quality supply with rapid turnaround time. The expansion of the company’s global manufacturing footprint is critical to supplying these products to patients with unmet needs around the world.
“The Devens facility integrates the latest state-of-the-art technology in the industry with top talent in the Boston area that will take us into the next phase of our cell therapy journey,” says Karin Shanahan, executive vice president, global product development & supply, Bristol Myers Squibb. “We are working diligently to increase our product capacity through new sites like Devens and by implementing innovative manufacturing solutions that help patients in need.”
The new 244,000-sq-ft cell therapy manufacturing facility represents the second significant expansion of BMS’ 89-acre Devens site, which has been developing, producing, and testing clinical and commercial medicines for over a decade. BMS also operates two R&D facilities in Cambridge, Mass. The company is planning to bring these two sites together into a new building at Cambridge Crossing later this year.
