State-of-the-art 146,000 square foot facility in Louisville, Colo. will overcome crucial production barriers to delivering effective, accessible cancer treatments
Seattle, Wash., August 30, 2021 – Umoja Biopharma, an oncology company leveraging its proprietary integrated technologies to reprogram immune cells in vivo to create next-generation immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, today announced the groundbreaking of its new development and manufacturing facility in Louisville, Colo. Construction of the state-of-the-art facility is a key milestone for the company and represents an important next step in bringing effective and accessible CAR T therapies to cancer patients.
“Manufacturing is a critical strategic component of Umoja’s approach to delivering the future of cancer immunotherapies, ensuring our treatments are widely accessible in a timely way and at a reasonable cost – all barriers that have long held the landscape of CAR T treatments back,” said Andy Scharenberg, M.D., co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Our facility in Colorado represents a significant investment into our commitment to bring novel therapies to cancer patients, as well as in how those therapies are produced, stored, and distributed. This facility will substantially enhance our company’s vector manufacturing, process development, and formulation capabilities, and we are extremely proud to announce the groundbreaking as the first step in bringing these capabilities on line.”
The 146,000 square foot facility will house labs, offices, and manufacturing space for lentiviral vector production, with the first manufacturing run of clinical material expected to kick off in the first quarter of 2023. Since the company’s launch in November 2020, Umoja Biopharma has made significant progress in advancing its programs and bringing key hires on board to prepare for its next rapid phase of development and growth. The company announced the closure of their oversubscribed $210 million Series B financing round in June and continues to expand hiring both in its Seattle headquarters and the new facility in Colorado.
“With this facility and Umoja’s unique, integrated approach, we are rethinking the supply chain of CAR T therapies from the ground up, eliminating costly and time-consuming steps to streamline the process and ultimately make treatments more accessible,” said Ryan Crisman, Ph.D., co-founder and Chief Technical Officer. “The experienced workforce and extensive infrastructure made Boulder County a clear choice for Umoja’s new manufacturing home. We look forward to partnering with the community to build a facility that will make a truly meaningful impact on the future of cancer treatment.”
About Umoja Biopharma
Umoja Biopharma, Inc. is a preclinical stage company advancing an entirely new approach to immunotherapy designed to retool a patient’s immune system in vivo. Founded based on pioneering work performed at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Purdue University, Umoja’s novel approach is powered by integrated cellular immunotherapy technologies including the VivoVec in vivo delivery platform, the RACR/CAR in vivo cell expansion/control platform, and the TumorTag targeting platform. Designed from the ground up to work together, these platforms are being developed to create and harness a powerful immune response in the body to directly, safely, and controllably attack cancer. Umoja believes that its approach can provide broader access to the most advanced immunotherapies and enable more patients to live better, fuller lives. To learn more, visit http://umoja-biopharma.com/.
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Marites Coulter
Verge Scientific Communications
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