NEW YORK – Catalent and Galapagos on Tuesday said they were partnering to advance Galapagos' decentralized autologous CAR T-cell therapy GLPG5101 in patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Within the partnership, the contract development and manufacturing organization Catalent will let Galapagos use its Princeton, New Jersey-based commercial cell therapy manufacturing facility to produce GLPG5101 for clinical trials underway in New York, New Jersey, and nearby areas.
The use of Catalent's manufacturing site is part of Mechelen, Belgium-based Galapagos' goal of offering patients an autologous cell therapy made close to their treatment location. This decentralized approach is meant to reduce wait times for patients, in turn eliminating the need for bridging therapy. Galapagos says it can deliver products to patients within seven days of harvesting cells, without ever cryopreserving the products.
The news comes several weeks after Galapagos announced it would be splitting into two companies, laying off 300 employees, and altering the terms of an existing licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences. Galapagos said these changes will allow it to focus exclusively on developing its decentralized cell therapies, including GLPG5101. The firm further said it would be selling off or ceasing development of small molecule drugs as part of the strategic shift.
The solid tumor cell therapy company Adaptimmune also announced a recent deal with Galapagos, through which it would tap into Galapagos' existing decentralized manufacturing network to develop its cell therapy candidate uzatresgene autoleucel (uza-cel) for certain patients with head and neck cancer.
Galapagos and Catalent did not share the financial details of their agreement.