Triumvira Immunologics, a clinical-stage company developing novel, targeted autologous and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with cancer, has announced a multi-year agreement with AmplifyBio to use its facilities in South San Francisco, Calif. for Triumvira to manufacture its own cell therapy candidates within the company’s pipeline.
 
The advanced research and manufacturing space features an FDA-compliant GMP facility and will be staffed by Triumvira technical operations experts in cell therapy manufacturing, with plans for additional personnel in the coming years. Triumvira expects the facility to be fully operational in 2023.
 
“Triumvira’s modular TAC manufacturing process offers the ability to integrate quickly and effectively into this new facility as well as potentially into additional GMP spaces,” said Donna Rill, chief technology officer at Triumvira. “Our newly expanded manufacturing team also brings the deep technical expertise required to bring forward TAC T cell therapies as a potential new class of medicines.”
 
The South San Francisco facility is Triumvira’s second manufacturing location and is expected to provide supplemental manufacturing capacity to meet the demand for its ongoing clinical research studies. In 2018, Triumvira entered into a strategic relationship with C3i Center Inc. (C3i) to manufacture cell therapy candidates for its clinical trials at C3i’s state-of-the art GMP facility, with capabilities to manufacture cell therapies from process development to commercialization, located in Montreal.
 
Once operational, the South San Francisco facility will manufacture TAC01-HER2, which is currently in a Phase 1/2 trial for solid tumors, and manufacture additional candidates for subsequent clinical studies. Manufacturing of Triumvira’s second most advanced candidate, TAC-Claudin 18.2 – in preclinical development for the treatment of gastric cancer – will start at C3i in 2023.
 
“We are excited to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S., which is an important component of our overall strategic growth plan and accelerates our ability to launch new programs into the clinic over the next few years,” said Paul Lammers, M.D., M.Sc., president and CEO of Triumvira. “South San Francisco is home to the largest biotech cluster in the world and we look forward to establishing our presence among the world’s most prolific biotech companies, as well as gaining access to the highly-skilled talent in the area.”