Lonza, a global manufacturing partner to the pharma, biotech and nutrition industries, has acquired an exosome manufacturing facility located in Lexington, Massachusetts (US) from Codiak BioSciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of exosome-based therapeutics.
 
Codiak will retain its pipeline of therapeutic candidates as well as its exosome engineering and drug-loading technologies. Codiak will receive as part of the deal approximately $65 million of cGMP manufacturing services in kind. Lonza will gain worldwide access and sub-licensable rights to Codiak’s high-throughput perfusion-based cGMP process for exosome manufacturing.
 
The companies will establish a Center of Excellence for the development of exosome manufacturing technologies. The Center of Excellence will leverage the strengths of both companies to advance developments in exosome production, purification and analytics while providing Lonza customers with exosome assay and process development, analytics and manufacturing services.
 
Alberto Santagostino, SVP, head of Cell and Gene Technologies at Lonza, commented, “We are excited about the collaboration we have established with Codiak BioSciences. Exosomes are emerging as a new modality for advanced therapies and could become the next frontier in biotherapeutics. Our collaboration with Codiak, one of the most advanced companies in this modality, is consistent with our strategy to advance this technology and will drive the advancement of the whole industry. We are committed to providing our capabilities to Codiak, alongside other customers in the exosome space.”
 
Doug Williams, PhD, CEO, Codiak BioSciences, added, “Creating an exosome manufacturing Center of Excellence with Lonza, a leading global contract development manufacturing organization, accelerates productivity of our manufacturing platform and facilitates realization of its full potential by leveraging Lonza capabilities. Importantly for Codiak, this collaboration solidifies our capacity for expanded late-stage clinical and eventually commercial manufacturing as we advance our growing clinical pipeline. We are proud Lonza recognized Codiak’s pioneering work in the manufacture of engineered exosomes and look forward to our Center of Excellence helping to set new standards for the field.”
 

About Exosomes

Exosomes are nano-sized membrane vesicles secreted by many cell types, which play a role in cell-to-cell communication. They represent clinically valuable tools for various applications, ranging from early detection, diagnosis, prognosis and targeted treatments. Further development of the exosome platform also has the potential to make cell and gene therapies available and commercially viable for large patient populations.
 
While the development of exosomes is still at an early stage, exosome-related technologies have been progressing rapidly in the past years, with many developers working to demonstrate the efficacy and the potential of exosome-based therapies in pre-clinical or early clinical stages.
 
Codiak has already advanced two engineered exosome therapeutic candidates into clinical studies in patients, with an IND filing planned for a third candidate during the fourth quarter of 2021.
 
The investment in this emerging area reflects Lonza’s strategy to differentiate through innovation.