Autolus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company based in the UK, has built a facility, named The Nucleus, in Stevenage, UK, to manufacture chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for cancer treatment. The facility is intended to provide good manufacturing practice (GMP) capacity for the development and commercial supply of Autolus’ investigational CD19 CAR T-cell therapy, Obecabtagene autoleucel (Obe-cel, AUTO1). The facility can manufacture and process 2,000 batches each year, with opportunities to expand further.
The development of the facility has generated 400 jobs in Stevenage. Location The site is part of the open innovation campus Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, the third largest cell and gene therapy cluster in the world. The site supports the expansion of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, which accommodates GlaxoSmithKline, the , LifeArc and Cytiva, plus more than 40 other startup companies.
The facility is part of a broader initiative to establish a life sciences district in Stevenage by Reef Group and UBS Asset Management. The facility was developed by Reef Group, which pre-let the site to Autolus under a 20-year lease agreement. Autolus Therapeutics’ CAR T-cell facility development details Autolus received planning permission from Stevenage Borough Council for the development of the facility in September 2021.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the facility took place in November 2021. Autolus took possession of the first of three at the new facility in N.
