Artiva Biotherapeutics is quadrupling its footprint in San Diego with a 52,000 square-foot corporate HQ, R&D and manufacturing center opening next year.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
Artiva Biotherapeutics is quadrupling its footprint in San Diego with a 52,000 square-foot corporate HQ, R&D and manufacturing center opening next year. The multi-suit custom-built GMP manufacturing will support its NK and CAR-NK cell lines for Artiva’s pipeline.
The California biotech already has a massive 300,000 square feet of research labs and GMP space in the Republic of Korea. This US expansion will add to that capacity.
Artiva’s pipeline is highly scaled, off-the-shelf allogeneic NK (natural killer) cell therapies for both blood cancers and solid tumors. The company’s proprietary cryopreservation tech and large-scale production platform will help reach the goal of “safe, effective, and truly off-the-shelf cell therapy treatments that are immediately accessible to cancer patients,” according to CEO Fred Aslan.
Currently Artiva’s lead candidate, AB-101 is in a Phase I/II study alone and in combination with the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab in B-cell malignancies. The drug is in the ADCC Enhancer NK program, which means it enhances a patient’s antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity response.
Two more candidates are part of the company’s Targeted CAR-NK line, where NK cells are engineered to express proprietary chimeric antigen receptors, with the potential to enhance ability of the NK cells to target and destroy hematologic or solid tumors.
Artiva’s potential caught the eye of U.S. pharma giant Merck. Earlier this year the companies struck up a worldwide collaboration and license agreement to develop CAR-NK cell therapies targeting solid tumor-associated antigens. The deal has the potential to be worth over $2 billion, with $30 million upfront, a third program option on the table and up to $612 million in royalties per program.
“Our NK platform has been developed to be truly off-the-shelf and we believe it will be further validated by this exclusive collaboration with Merck, as we work together to bring cell therapies to all patients who may benefit,” said Dr. Peter Flynn, COO of Artiva. “This collaboration will combine Merck’s leading immuno-oncology expertise and capabilities with our highly scaled and optimized CAR-NK platform.”
In February just a month later, Artiva scooped up $120 million in a Series B round to advance AB-101 and expand R&D efforts.
The new San Diego facility is a redevelopment of a current build, a quicker option to get things up and running.
“Artiva’s new San Diego R&D and manufacturing facility is an important element of the Company’s expansion and will support research and development for our evolving pipeline of optimized NK and CAR-NK cell therapies for the treatment of cancer,” said Peter Flynn, Ph.D., COO of Artiva. “The custom-built manufacturing center will produce clinical product and position Artiva for pivotal studies and potential commercial supply.”
The site is expected to be move-in ready in 2022.
