TCR2 Therapeutics is the first US company to have a global development base at the cell and gene therapy manufacturing cluster in Stevenage, UK.
Located 45 km north of London, Stevenage Bioscience Park was opened in April 2018, backed by more than £60 million of UK government investment as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
The new base for the Massachusetts immunotherapy company will be a site of global manufacturing systems and capabilities. TCR2 will work with Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) at their manufacturing centre to produce its new TCR therapies based on the company's TRuC (TCR Fusion Construct) T cells.
Choosing the UK
Garry Menzel, President and CEO of TCR2 Therapeutics, said: "The agreement with CGT Catapult enables us to meet our immediate clinical trials needs and have the flexibility of both our own dedicated manufacturing space and access to an established supply chain at one of the world's premier centres for cell and gene therapy development."
Explaining how the company came to choose the UK site, Menzel said: “The UK government has shown tremendous leadership in cell therapy manufacturing and we are delighted to be working with such a talented pool of experts.”
The bioscience park, underpinned by support from CGT Catapult experts across scientific research, manufacturing, supply, and regulation, provides the required capabilities for manufacture at high throughput in GMP environment into the wider supply chain.
In September 2018, the centre was awarded commercial licenses by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) allowing the go-ahead for production of medicines for use in patients.
Keith Thompson, CEO of CGT Catapult said: “By next summer we will have doubled capacity to meet growing demand, further strengthening the UK's position as the world's most complete ecosystem for the development of cell and gene therapies."
TCR2 joins advanced therapy companies Adaptimmune, Autolus, Cell Medica, and Freeline.
The rapidly developing Stevenage cluster of cell and gene therapy also includes facilities established by international supply chain companies such as General Electric and Thermofisher.
Capacity expansion at the manufacturing centre is already underway to support strong growth in the cell and gene therapy industry.