Novartis buys 9% stake in Chinese Kymriah manufacturing partner

Novartis has paid $40 million for a 9% stake in Cellular Biomedicine Group (CBMG), a Shanghai-based firm which will manufacture CAR-T cell therapy Kymriah for the China market.

Under terms of the deal, CBMG will take responsibility for the manufacture of the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) from its facility in Shanghai, China, on behalf of Novartis entity Beijing Novartis Pharma for supply in China.

“Aligned with our global supply and regulatory strategy, Novartis actively has been pursuing options for additional manufacturing capacity to help meet global demand for Kymriah,” Julie Masow, a spokesperson from the Swiss pharma giant told BioProcess Insider.

“CBMG came to our attention as we were looking for a collaborator that would be capable of helping us to manufacture and supply Kymriah to patients in China, as local regulations require that the product be manufactured in China.”