ReiThera opens €15M bio production expansion after Italian regulator's signoff

ReiThera, an Italian biotech and contract manufacturing company, opened a 15 million euro ($14.6 million) facility expansion focused on large-scale viral vectors for vaccines and gene therapies.

The debut followed operational approval from the Italian Medicines Agency, the company said in a Nov. 3 release.

Construction of the 1,500-square-meter facility kicked off in May 2020. The expansion features bioreactors with scaled volume capacities of 200, 1,000 and 2,000 liters.

The facility can accommodate manufacturing based on adenovirus, adeno-associated virus and lentivirus, the company said.

After the work, the company "will be able to support companies engaged in the development of products in the field of vaccines and advanced therapies, from the fine-tuning of small-scale production processes to production on a commercial scale," Stefano Colloca, ReiThera’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said in the release.

ReiThera is among a number of manufacturing players expanding their facilities to try to meet the explosive demand for gene delivery technologies and services that has occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and as more gene therapies enter clinical stages or the market.

Two weeks ago, VectorBuilder Biotechnology secured investor backing for its push to support gene delivery, raising $57 million in a series C financing round to support its $500 million expansion of manufacturing capabilities at its Guangzhou, China, site.