Catalent Pharma Solutions has signed a multi-year agreement with Grid Therapeutics, LLC, for the development and manufacture of Grid’s lead therapeutic candidate for the treatment of solid tumors.
 
Catalent Biologics will employ its GPEx cell line technology to develop cell lines and manufacture antibodies with the goal of optimizing the process for cGMP bulk drug production. The project will be undertaken at Catalent’s Madison, WI, biomanufacturing facility.
 
Grid’s research is based on a novel approach to identify specific tumor immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies from patients with early stage cancer. Grid used a strategy to obtain the sequence of its lead IgG3 antibody directly from B cells in cancer patients.
 
“Grid Therapeutics is excited to partner with Catalent to develop this novel, human-derived antibody for the treatment of cancer. We feel Catalent Biologics is well positioned to bring this novel antibody to the clinic,” said Edward F. Patz, Jr.  M.D., chief executive officer of Grid Therapeutics.
 
“Catalent regularly and successfully partners with innovator companies looking to bring new, important therapies to market faster, and a patient derived IgG3 monoclonal antibody would be a significant advancement in optimized treatments,” said Mike Riley, vice president and general manager of Catalent Biologics.
 
Catalent’s GPEx technology creates stable, high-yielding mammalian cell lines for early feasibility studies, to clinical manufacturing, through to commercial-scale production. To date, seven GPEx-based antibody and protein products are approved and marketed, and 34 therapeutic candidates are currently in development.