Oct 5, 2017   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Promethera Biosciences and Shibuya Announce Strategic Collaboration to Establish Breakthrough Cell Therapy Manufacturing Platform

Promethera Biosciences SA, a global innovator in cell-based medicines, and Shibuya Corporation (6340:Tokyo Stock Exchange) announced today a strategic collaboration to establish a high-throughput, commercial-scale and clinical-grade cell therapy and regenerative medicine manufacturing platform. For Promethera, the collaboration will act as a cornerstone to optimize and expand the manufacturing capabilities for its current and future portfolio of liver-derived cell therapies to treat Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), acute-on-chronic liver-failure (ACLF) and other indications. For Shibuya, the deal represents a significant step towards bringing the company’s expertise to the European market and becoming a global leader in the manufacturing of regenerative medicine products. Both parties will combine their capabilities and expertise to establish a first-in-class manufacturing facility starting at Promethera’s new premises in Gosselies, Belgium. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Japan in particular is leading the charge when it comes to making the cell therapy revolution a reality. It is widely accepted that commercial manufacturing in the cell therapy space represents a key hurdle to overcome in this regard. We therefore welcome the opportunity to conquer this challenge together with our partners from Shibuya Corporation,“ commented Dr. John Tchelingerian, CEO of Promethera Biosciences. “Once successfully established, starting in Europe, the joint production platform will significantly increase our and our partners’ manufacturing capabilities in the cell therapy space reinforcing our claim to offer treatment to potentially thousands of patients from one donated liver.”

“Research, clinical studies and market supply in the emerging sector of cell therapy and regenerative medicine require large scale cell cultivation at a reasonable cost while adhering to highest quality and safety standards of various types of stem cells. We are very pleased to team up with Promethera as one of the key innovators and the pioneer in the liver-derived cell therapy arena to establish a joint system that is capable of consistently meeting this demand,“ commented Hidetoshi Shibuya, Managing Director Shibuya Corporation and CEO Shibuya Hoppmann Corporation.

Shibuya has manufactured and installed a variety of aseptic systems and equipment for hospitals and universities which includes cell culture isolators, robotic cell culture isolators and 3D bio printers. All systems are suited for very high level disinfection processes and operate without direct human intervention. This allows Shibuya to achieve unprecedented control over cell processing and culture conditions to ensure highest product quality and safety standards.

About Promethera Biosciences

Promethera Biosciences is a global innovator in liver cell-based medicines whose mission is to help patients overcome acute and chronic liver diseases. Our lead clinical program, derived from our patented cell technology platform HepaStem, is designed to benefit from its immune-modulatory and anti-fibrotic properties. We are a team of international experts operating out of R&D and GMP facilities in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, and Durham, NC, USA.

Promethera®, HepaStem®, H2stem®, Cytonet®, Heparesc® are all registered trademarks of the PROMETHERA group.

About Shibuya Corporation

Shibuya was founded in 1931 and is the largest packaging system manufacturer in Japan. Shibuya is a publicly held company and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company has about 3,200 employees, and its annual sales is more than 90 billion yen. Shibuya offers reliable, world leading technologies to many industries, including pharmaceutical, cosmetic, household, food and beverage, confectionery, personal care and electronics.

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