Oxford Biomedica and Novartis have agreed to extend an agreement to manufacture lentiviral vectors for several of the Swiss drugmaker’s CAR-T therapies.
The move extends the partners' collaboration agreement until the end of 2028, the companies said. Oxford, a U.K. cell and gene therapy group, also regains the rights to its LentiVector platform for three CAR-T targets.
The latest terms provide Novartis with more flexibility in ordering GMP batches. The company no longer has to commit to minimum GMP batch orders.
For its part, Oxford Biomedica also secured the ability to work with other biopharma partners across all CAR-T targets. John Dawson, Oxford’s chief executive, said the latest supply agreement with Novartis “allows us to react to the rapidly growing dynamics of the commercial CAR-T sector.”
Separately, Oxford inked a three-year clinical supply deal with U.S. biotech Arcellx for select CAR-T programs, the company said Monday.
In late September, Oxford reaped a $68.2 million investment from Serum Institute of India’s subsidiary Serum Life Sciences to further develop its Oxbox manufacturing facility with flexible advanced technology. That project is expected to be completed by mid-2023.
Currently, three of Oxford’s suites at the facility are producing AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.