Inceptor Bio acquired Arranta Bio’s process development and clinical manufacturing site in Florida as it pushes ahead with its preclinical cell therapies for cancer.
The agreement gives Inceptor a 29,000-square-foot plant in Gainesville as well as an unspecified number of a “core operating team” members, the companies said in a release. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Inceptor is working on several cell therapy platforms and is targeting difficult-to-treat cancers by focusing on mechanisms that support immune cell activity within the tumor microenvironment. The company has three cell therapies: a CAR-T using co-stimulatory technology, a CAR-M based on macrophages with enhanced phagocytic capabilities and a CAR-NK treatment.
“The acquisition accelerates Inceptor Bio’s path to clinic for out CAR-T, CAR-M and CAR-NK programs, with our lead CAR-T candidate scheduled for IND in early 2023,” Shailesh Maingi, CEO of Inceptor, said in the statement.
RELATED: Arranta Bio splashes $100M into 'microbiome' CDMO capacity with new Massacusetts facility
Just over a year ago, Arranta expanded capacity at the Gainesville plant as part of a $100 million expansion effort that included a new manufacturing facility in Watertown, Massachusetts, that can handle late-stage clinical and commercial clients.
Arranta, which was formed in 2019, is a microbiome CDMO specializing in manufacturing therapies known as live biotherapeutic products that target the bacteria, fungi, viruses and more that live on or in the human body.