Akron BioProducts, a leading manufacturer of cGMP-compliant technologies for cell and gene therapy, and Vor Bio, a clinical-stage cell and genome engineering company, today announced an agreement to develop and manufacture cGMP nucleases.

This collaboration strengthens Akron’s portfolio of off-the-shelf gene-editing technologies while broadening Vor Bio’s collection of nucleases to engineer gene-modified cell therapies. Vor Bio continues to strategically invest in its proprietary manufacturing capabilities for its engineered HSC and CAR-T programs. The companies will collaborate in the development and manufacture of starting materials needed to advance potentially transformative treatments for blood cancers into the clinic.

“We are delighted to partner with the Vor Bio team, who share our patient-centred focus, leveraging Akron’s strengths in custom cGMP recombinant biologics to help accelerate Vor Bio’s pioneering treatment approach for blood cancers,” explained David Smith, President and Chief Commercial Officer at Akron BioProducts. “Collaborations like this are why we are developing a state-of-the-art cGMP facility for gene therapy and vaccine production to raise the bar on quality and safety.”

“This partnership with Akron strengthens and diversifies our global supply chain as we build out our new clinical manufacturing facility in Cambridge, MA, which we expect to be operational in 2022,” said Brent Morse, Vice President, Head of Process and Analytical Development at Vor Bio. “The facility will support both our eHSC and CAR-T product pipeline and will maximize flexibility while reducing the time and cost to manufacture cell therapy clinical candidates. The collaboration with Akron nicely complements this capability.”