Business
Atara Biotherapeutics Enters Strategic Manufacturing Partnership with Fujifilm
Fujifilm to Acquire Atara’s Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility for Total Upfront Financial Consideration of USD 100 Million Parties to Enter Long-Term
About this update from Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nFujifilm to Acquire Atara’s Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility for Total Upfront Financial Consideration of USD 100 Million\n\nParties to Enter Long-Term Supply Agreement for Clinical and Commercial Product Manufacturing\n\nTransaction Expected to Result in Reduced Operating Expenses for Atara\n\nUpon Closing, Atara’s Cash Expected to Fund Planned Operations into Q4 2023\n\nCompany to Host Live Conference Call and Webcast Today at 4pm PST / 7pm EST\n\n SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nAtara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRA), a leader in T-cell immunotherapy, leveraging its novel allogeneic EBV T-cell platform to develop transformative therapies for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced that it has entered into a long term strategic agreement with FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB), a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation (Fujifilm) under which Fujifilm will acquire Atara’s T-Cell Operations and Manufacturing (ATOM) facility in Thousand Oaks, California for USD 100 million upfront, retaining current manufacturing and quality staff at the site.\n\nThe parties will also enter a long-term supply agreement, which could extend to ten years. Following completion of the transaction, FDB, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) in advanced therapies, will provide Atara with access to the flexible capacity and specific capability needed to manufacture clinical and commercial-stage allogeneic cell therapies for its maturing and promising pipeline, including tabelecleucel (tab-cel®), under regulatory review in Europe for EBV+ PTLD, ATA188 for multiple sclerosis, and allogeneic CAR T therapies, ATA3271 and ATA3219. FDB will also expand use of the Thousand Oaks site and leverage its talented staff to manufacture a broader portfolio of cell therapies. Atara will retain its expertise, staff, and capabilities in manufacturing process science to continue to innovate in initial manufacturing and scale up for allogeneic cell therapies.\n\n“FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is a highly respected, quality-focused, industry-leading manufacturing and development organization that shares our pioneering culture and belief that allogeneic cell therapies will transform the future of medicine,” said Pascal Touchon, President and CEO of Atara. “We are incredibly proud of our world-cl...