Progenitor Cell Therapy LLC (PCT) announced today a significant expansion of its process development contract service capabilities with the completion of new laboratory space and the addition of key staff at its Mountain View, California facility.
“We have now completed another phase of our facility expansion by adding a new laboratory and state of-the-art equipment for the development of manufacturing processes for cell-based therapeutics. We have combined this facility expansion with the addition of key team members who are highly experienced in the development, scale-up, validation and implementation of processes for the GMP manufacture of a wide range of cell therapy products”, said Dr. Stewart Craig, Progenitor Cell Therapy’s Chief Technology Officer.
Progenitor Cell Therapy’s team now includes Dr. Elie Hanania, who recently joined PCT to manage Process and Assay Development activities in Mountain View. Having worked at MD Andersen, SyStemix, Inc., Oncosis and Cyntellect, Dr. Hanania brings over 18 years of experience developing processes and assays for the isolation, transduction, expansion and characterization of hematopoietic stem cells and T cells.
“Our team has significant experience in taking small-scale research methods for products such as hematopoietic stem cells, cord blood stem cells, activated T cells, mesenchymal stem cells, dendritic cells and gene-modified cells and developing them into processes suitable for the manufacture of products for clinical trials and commercialization”, commented Dr. Craig.
Dr. Hanania joins Progenitor Cell Therapy’s existing development team, which includes Dr. Wai Shun Chan (Scientific Director) and Ms. Ana Liberty. Dr. Chan has over 25 years of experience in cell separation and characterization; photomedicine; and process development. Ms. Liberty was a key member of Xcyte Therapies’ team responsible for manufacturing Xcellerated T Cells™ using Xcyte™ Dynabeads® (now known as Dynabeads® ClinExVivo™ CD3/CD28) and the Wave® Bioreactor platform.
“The new laboratory at our West coast facility effectively doubles Progenitor Cell Therapy’s capacity for product and process development activities, as well as providing bi-coastal coverage”, stated Dr. Wai Shun Chan, Progenitor Cell Therapy’s Scientific Director.
“This is an important milestone for the company and continues to leverage Progenitor Cell Therapy’s core competency to provide comprehensive quality services and rapid, cost-effective solutions to our clients from coast-to-coast in this rapidly expanding cell therapy industry” commented Dr. Robert Preti, President of Progenitor Cell Therapy.
About Progenitor Cell Therapy, LLC
Progenitor Cell Therapy (PCT) is a client-based cell therapy services company that supports the development and commercialization of cellular therapies. PCT provides cGMP-compliant cell manufacturing, development and consulting services that address regulatory, financial, technical, process, and quality system strategies. The range of services includes process and product development, validation, due diligence evaluations, tissue collection, processing, and storage, product manufacturing, distribution and transportation. For more information, please visit www.progenitorcelltherapy.com.
Contact:
George Goldberger
Chief Business Officer
Progenitor Cell Therapy, LLC
(201) 883-5314
ggoldberger@progenitorcelltherapy.com
