Catalent will enter gene-therapy service market

Abstract

Seeking to enter the business of gene-therapy manufacturing, the drug service firm Catalent Pharma Solutions has agreed to pay $1.2 billion for the custom manufacturer Paragon Bioservices. Paragon will put Catalent in the business of making adeno-associated virus vectors, plasmids, and lentivirus vectors used to deliver gene and cell therapies. Earlier this month, Paragon opened a gene-therapy manufacturing facility in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, complementing the production capacity at its headquarters at University of Maryland’s BioPark. The new capacity will support customers’ clinical- and commercial-stage programs. After the Catalent deal was unveiled, Paragon announced it will expand its relationship with a key customer, Sarepta Therapeutics. In October, Sarepta enlisted Paragon to help make its experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy; now, Paragon and Sarepta are considering a joint venture to manufacture gene therapies at a new site. The deal for Paragon, which expects to have sa...