Benzinga | Jul 14, 2021 04:10PM EDT

Sana Biotechnology Enters Long-Term Lease to Establish Manufacturing Facility to Enable Its Gene and Cell Therapy Product Candidates

Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:SANA), a company focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, today announced that it has entered into a lease agreement to develop a 163,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Fremont, California. This facility will support the manufacture of Sana's late-stage clinical development and early commercial product candidates across the multiple technologies in Sana's pipeline.

"Manufacturing remains a key bottleneck to the development and broad accessibility of cell- and gene-based medicines. This facility is a key component in enabling our aspirations to rapidly innovate, consistently manufacture, and scale production of these medicines," said Steve Harr, Sana's President and CEO. "Sana is making significant investments to create the scientific insights, supply chain stability, and operational capabilities to transform the potentially disruptive scientific insights of the cell and gene therapy field into important medicines for patients."

The facility will be designed to provide manufacturing capabilities across Sana's portfolio, including allogeneic T cell, viral vector, and pluripotent stem cell production. The Fremont location allows close proximity to Sana's existing technical and scientific capabilities and access to a strong biotechnology talent base. As part of the company's holistic manufacturing strategy, Sana also intends to work with contract manufacturing partners to advance its product candidates to the clinic as early as next year.