Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine production partner BioNTech is buying a manufacturing facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where the German company will advance development of its personalized cell therapies for cancer.
BioNTech is buying the facility from Kite Pharma, a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences. It is also acquiring Kite’s platform for developing T-cell receptor immunotherapies. It will retain Kite’s current lab employees in Gaithersburg, and said it will hire more people. Kite has a separate, new facility in Frederick, Maryland, which is not part of its deal with BioNTech.
“The acquisition of the Kite facility and its individualized TCR platform allows us to accelerate the clinical development of our cell therapies in the U.S. and advance at the forefront of individualized cell therapies,” said BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin.
Montgomery County is home to the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.
BioNTech joins many other biotech and life sciences companies with operations in Montgomery County, which the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation refers to as the Immunology Capital.
