Dive Brief:
- Cell and gene therapy company Oxford Biomedica plc plans to raise approximately £20.5 million ($28.6 million) in order to fund the expansion of its bioprocessing facility.
- The proceeds would be used to expand the facility to include four new Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) vector suites, fill and finish suites, a warehouse and office space.
- The British biotech aims to sell 174,346,817 new ordinary shares at a price of 11.75 pence per share. The price is a 5.9% discount to the 12.46 pence per share price the stock listed for on the London Stock Exchange when the raise was announced.
Dive Insight:
"Oxford BioMedica is at the centre of the gene and cell therapy revolution and we are the only company globally that provides both clinical and commercial grade lentiviral vectors that are used to deliver life changing treatments," said John Dawson, CEO of Oxford BioMedica.
The company, which functions both as a drugmaker and a contract manufacturer, has recently inked deals with Novartis AG, Orchard Therapeutics, and hemophilia drugmaker Biovertativ (which was acquired by Sanofi SA).
One of the drivers behind the facility expansion is the growing interest in cell and gene therapies. The deal with Novartis was a particular catalyst for the contract manufacturer, lining up $100 million over the next few years to develop the lentiviral vectors Novartis use to manufacture its newly approved CAR-T cell therapy.
Dawson noted that since the approval of Novartis' Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), Oxford BioMedica has seen an uptick in the interest for lentiviral vectors.
"[T]his has reinforced our belief that the market for lentiviral vectors is positioned to grow significantly over the next few years," he added. "This fundraise will allow us to exploit our market leading position by giving us the capacity to service this rapidly growing market that is expected to be worth $800 million annually, by 2026."
Oxford BioMedica already has three sites that have GMP suites and the company has a short list of potential sites that can be expanded. Yet, the company's facilities are currently working close to capacity, according to a report from GMP News.