Mesoblast and Lonza Establish Strategic Global Manufacturing Alliance

The alliance will provide Mesoblast with significant commercial advantages, including certainty of capacity to meet long-term global supply of its proprietary Mesenchymal Precursor Cell (MPC) products.

Sep 28 2011 --- Global regenerative medicine company Mesoblast Limited and Lonza Group, a world leader in biologic manufacturing, announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance for clinical and long-term commercial production of Mesoblast’s off-the-shelf (allogeneic) adult stem cell products.

The alliance will provide Mesoblast with significant commercial advantages, including certainty of capacity to meet long-term global supply of its proprietary Mesenchymal Precursor Cell (MPC) products. Under the agreement:

•Lonza will supply Mesoblast’s clinical and long-term commercial MPC product needs globally.
•Mesoblast can trigger a process requiring Lonza to construct a purpose-built manufacturing facility exclusively for Mesoblast’s marketed products. In return, Mesoblast will purchase agreed quantities of marketed products from the facility.
•Mesoblast can exercise its right to buy out this manufacturing facility at a pre-agreed purchase price two years after the facility receives regulatory approval.
•Mesoblast will have exclusive access to Lonza’s Cell Therapy facilities in Singapore for the manufacture of allogeneic cell therapy products, subject to certain exceptions.
•Lonza will utilize its proprietary intellectual property to facilitate reductions in Mesoblast’s manufacturing costs and help enable development of enhanced second generation products.

Mesoblast Chief Executive, Professor Silviu Itescu, said that having access to Lonza’s best of breed manufacturing capabilities will give Mesoblast significant commercial advantages globally. “It is in line with our growth strategy to deliver the highest quality and most effective cell therapy products worldwide,” he added.

“Lonza is very excited to work under this significant strategic relationship with leading cell therapy company Mesoblast,” said Stefan Borgas, CEO of Lonza. “The cell therapy market is anticipated to become a major growth industry with the potential to mirror the growth we have seen in monoclonal antibodies over the past 20 years.”