Atara sells cell therapy plant to Fujifilm for $100M

Excerpt from the Press Release:

• Atara Biotherapeutics, a California-based developer of cell therapies, will sell a large factory it built there to a contract manufacturing division of Japan’s Fujifilm, announcing Wednesday a $100 million deal with Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies.
• The facility, which encompasses 90,000 square feet in Thousand Oaks, California, was once a key component of Atara’s strategy for developing and producing cell-based treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Now, however, the biotech will rely on Fujifilm as a supplier under a long-term agreement the two companies signed.
• When the deal closes — expected by April — Fujifilm said it plans to offer positions to the 140 Atara employees that currently work at the Thousand Oaks site, citing their experience and skill in manufacturing cellular immunotherapies.

Dive Insight:

Manufacturing cell therapies is considered to be more complex and labor-intensive than producing the small molecule and biologic drugs that are the mainstay of biotech and pharmaceutical companies’ pipelines.

Initially, as more and more companies began developing cell therapies, relying on the few contract manufacturers that specialized in their production was a risky proposition, inviting delays or added costs. But over time contract manufacturers like Fujifilm, Catalent and Lonza have invested heavily in cell and gene therapy manufacturing, building or buying factories dedicated to the treatments.

That expansion may change the calculus of biotechs which previously sought to invest in building their own manufacturing capacity.

Atara, for example, pitched its facility in Thousand Oaks as a “cornerstone” and “key milestone” for the company when the site opened three and a half years ago.

Now, Atara is transferring ownership and operations to Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, or FDB, which it will rely on to supply its cell therapies from the plant.

“We believe that now is the right time for a strategic relationship with FDB to provide us with expert manufacturing capabilities, as needed,” said Paschal Touchon, Atara’s CEO, in a statement.

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