Less than two months after OXB revealed an equity raise of 60 million pounds sterling ($81 million) as part a plan to expand its operations in the U.S., the U.K.-based cell and gene therapy manufacturer has purchased a viral vector plant in North Carolina from National Resilience.
The CDMO, which was formerly known as Oxford Biomedica, will pay 3.4 million pounds ($4.5 million) for the commercial-scale facility, which is located in the Research Triangle Park area in Durham.
The sale also comes four months after struggling Resilience unveiled a plan to consolidate by closing six of its 10 plants. Selling off its Durham site now leaves the streamlined CDMO with facilities in Toronto, Philadelphia and Cincinnati.
In January of this year, Resilience laid off 120 at the North Carolina facility, which it gained for $110 million as part of a 2021 partnership with gene therapy specialist bluebird bio. Bluebird has since sold itself and rebranded as Genetix Biotherapeutics.
The Research Triangle Park facility becomes the fifth in OXB’s network and its second in the U.S. The company’s site in Bedford, Massachusetts, will remain its adeno-associated virus “center of excellence,” OXB said, focusing on early-stage development activities, while the Durham plant will perform clinical and commercial production duties.
“This acquisition is a major milestone in OXB’s evolution as a global, innovation-led CDMO partner of choice,” Frank Mathias, OXB’s CEO, said in a release. “The FDA approved facility in North Carolina adds commercial-scale US manufacturing capabilities, accelerating OXB’s ability to meet growing demand from existing clients while supporting new business opportunities.”
With its location in the Research Triangle Park area, the facility provides “access to established industry networks” and brings a “skilled workforce,” OXB said, adding that it plans to hire additional staff to “bring it to its full commercial readiness.”
The site has two GMP suites for drug substance production, one for fill-finish duties and a fourth that's ready for an expansion, in addition to quality control labs and warehousing. OXB expects the plant to be operational by the first quarter of next year.
The cell and gene therapy pioneer, which was established in 1995 as a spinout from the University of Oxford, also has facilities in Lyon and Strasbourg in France. At its home base in Oxfordshire, England, the company operates out of five buildings spanning more than 180,000 square feet.
Resilience launched with an ambitious mission in November 2020 to broaden access to medicines and protect biopharma supply chains against disruption. The startup was propelled by an $800 million investment and a goal to become the “world's most advanced biopharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem.”
By the end of 2021, Resilience had drawn additional investment rounds of $625 million and $600 million, and, in 2023, the company secured a $410 million loan from the Department of Defense.
“It has become clear that our capacity expansion has outpaced industry demand,” Resilience CEO William Marth wrote in June in announcing the company’s streamlined setup.