Chinese CDMO player raises $80m to advance CGT platform
The Chinese company said it will use the proceeds to continue its business expansion into different markets, investing in core manufacturing infrastructures and in global commercial operations, with the goal of becoming a global end-to-end cell and gene therapy (CGT) contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).
The current round of financing was led by China Merchants Groups' healthcare PE fund, Merchant Health, along with its sister fund China Merchants Capital, China Merchants Securities Investments.
Venture and private equity firms were also involved in the current round of financing, including Fosun Health Capital, Gortune Investment, and SDICTK. Apart from those new investors, current Porton Advanced shareholders, Porton Pharma Solutions, CS Capital, HM Capital, Ruilian Investment and Momentum Venture, participated in the current round.
Manufacturing footprint
Porton Advanced outlined how it has rapidly established an integrated CDMO platform providing a spectrum of services covering plasmids, cell therapy, gene therapy, oncolytic virus, nucleic acid therapy and microbial vectors used for gene therapy.
Its current operational footprint includes a 40,000 sq. ft (3716.12 sq. m) research and development and GMP production facility, which has been in operation for over two years, producing plasmids, viruses, and cell batches for various customers.
A 160,000 sq. ft facility for commercial production will be operational at the end of 2022 or by early 2023. By then, the CDMO said it will have over 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing production space dedicated to the cell and gene therapy work, including 10 GMP viral vector production lines, 10 GMP cell therapy production lines and hundreds of cleanrooms.
Such scale and footprint would allow it to significantly upgrade its AAV, oncolytic virus and mRNA CDMO capacity and capabilities, said the company.
Dr Wang Yangzhou, CEO of Porton Advanced, said: "In the coming months, we will continue to improve and optimize our internal quality and program management systems, enhance our ability to operate at overseas and domestic markets.”
