Sartorius and Immunochina Partner to Advance Immunotherapy Development

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB), a leading international supplier of the biopharmaceutical industry, through its China affiliate, and Beijing-based Immunochina Pharmaceuticals, announced today that both parties have entered into a collaboration. Under the terms of the relationship, Immunochina will gain preferred access to SSB’s bioprocess technology platform for development, scale-up and production, new cellular immunotherapy production equipment and related commercial-scale manufacturing expertise, while Immunochina will provide technical feedback to SSB.

"As part of our long-term ambition to scale our manufacturing platform and product pipeline globally, we understand how the strict process control and reliable GMP-grade manufacturing that we have established will continue to be critical to our success. As we expand our commercial-scale manufacturing capabilities, we feel that Sartorius is an ideal partner," says Ting He, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Immunochina.

Founded in 2015, Beijing-based Immunochina is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing best-in-class chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies and a lentiviral vector manufacturing platform. The company's lead programs target CD19 in B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL) and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, with several other drug candidates targeting liquid and solid tumors currently in development.

Backed by a number of Chinese and international investors, including Peter Thiel, Legend Capital, and Tsinghua University's DNA Fund, Immunochina is reported to be one of only few cell therapy companies in China developing end-to-end research and development capabilities. Immunochina's lead CAR-T therapy recently achieved a complete response rate exceeding 90% in a cohort of over 60 patients suffering from B-ALL. The company expects to announce additional, newer data at an upcoming American Society of Hematology conference in the United States.

As a stable and reliable long-term partner to the biopharmaceutical industry, Sartorius Stedim Biotech is committed to providing biopharmaceutical companies with total bioprocess technology solutions, integrating quality by design concepts into early and late stage development, production processes and process lifecycle management. This strongly supports the rapid development of China's biopharmaceutical industry by shortening the development timelines, increasing the productivity, and accelerating the pace from research to the clinical phase while securing robust production processes.

Floris De Smet, Head of Technical Specialists & Process Support at SSB China, said, "Cell and gene therapy are very important new modalities offering new hope to patients and Immunochina is pioneering fast and promising progress in this field in China. At Sartorius Stedim Biotech we live by our slogan of Turning Science into Solutions. In this collaboration with Immunochina, where our technologies meet Immunochina’s groundbreaking science, we believe we can contribute to solutions for the patient by speeding up development, supported by robust scale-up packages and technology strategies for commercialization. The cooperation between the two companies will open a new chapter in precision treatment of hematological tumors, it will promote the development of cell and gene therapies and will contribute to the long-term and sustainable development of the two companies in China. As a result, stimulating the development of Chinese national healthcare industry."

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