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German-based BioNTech has announced that it will soon be joining Montgomery County’s growing list of world-renowned international companies in the “Immunology Capital Next to the Nation’s Capital.” BioNTech is acquiring a Gaithersburg manufacturing facility and cell therapy research and development platform from Kite, a unit of Gilead Sciences, to support the development of BioNTech’s expanding pipeline of novel cell therapies.
With its widely used Pfizer-partnered COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech has recently risen to international prominence and is looking to add an innovative neoantigen T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy to its portfolio of cutting-edge individualized cancer therapies. BioNTech’s new Montgomery County manufacturing plant will increase the company’s cell therapy production to strengthen its supply for U.S. clinical trials of its cancer treatments.
In addition to accelerating BioNTech’s work in its promising cancer cell therapy research, the deal gives the company a life sciences manufacturing footprint in Montgomery County, home of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which includes the National Cancer Institute. BioNTech is expected to retain the existing workers at the site and hire additional employees there.
“We are proud that BioNTech has selected Montgomery County as the location to expand its operations,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “We are one of the nation’s top life sciences clusters and our proximity to the FDA and NIH, along with our high-quality workforce, makes us the ideal place for expansion. BioNTech joins a growing list of companies that have recognized that great things are happening in Montgomery County.”
BioNTech is the latest international attraction of life sciences companies that have chosen Montgomery County for its local opportunities for growth and prospective partnerships. Recent international attractions have included Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (Canada), Genetron Health (China), Innovent Biologics (China) and Nobelpharma (Japan). They joined global leaders like AstraZeneca (UK), GlaxoSmithKline (UK), Qiagen (Germany), Ascentage Pharma (China) and Macrogen (South Korea) that are already located in Montgomery County.
“When a global leader such as BioNTech selects Montgomery County as the U.S. location to fulfill its next generation manufacturing capabilities, it signals our growing maturation as a world immunology capital,” said Benjamin H. Wu, president and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation.. “We look forward to supporting BioNTech’s expansion plans and seeing their promising cancer therapies come to fruition.”
