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A full industrial chain for cell, gene therapy comes into being

Updated: 2023-04-28

In recent years, cell and gene therapy (CGT) has shown broad prospects for application and has become one of the most promising frontiers in the biopharmaceutical industry.

As a key direction of the biotechnology and big health industry cell and gene therapy in Beijing E-Town has gathered a large number of leading enterprises, represented by Immunotech Biopharm, CelArtics BioPharma, and Platinum Life. 

There are now more than 20 cell and gene therapy-related companies in the area, accounting for one third of the total number in the city.

The field of CGT includes concept validation, early-stage research and development, pilot production, and industrialization.

As more and more CGT companies are settling in Beijing E-Town, the area has also introduced a group of platform-type enterprises in CGT, like TsingkBiotechnology. 

In addition, after a long period of research and accumulated development, several CGT products in Beijing E-Town have gone beyond the stage of long R&D cycles and high investment and have begun to enter the harvest period of commercialization. 

A complete industrial chain from research and development to production for CGT has now been formed in Beijing E-Town.

"The industrial environment in Beijing E-Town is very open and provides a lot of support for companies like us that are exploring the frontier of pharmaceuticals and health," said the head of Novartis. 

This sentiment comes from the convenience of services enjoyed by Novartis in terms of import and export of products. 

Thanks to the Zhongguancun International biological reagent logistics Center implemented by Beijing E-Town, the first in the city, which is a third-party professional public service platform for the import and export of biological reagents for biopharmaceutical companies and research institutes, the clearance time for imported biological reagents has been shortened from one or two months to one week.

That example is just a microcosm of the innovative practices adopted by Beijing E-Town to promote the high-quality development of the cell and gene therapy industry. 

In 2023, Beijing E-Town will focus on cutting-edge high-tech fields such as DC cells and human stem cells, and attract more CGT companies to settle in the area. 

It is worth mentioning that since the beginning of this year, Beijing E-Town has established a CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) platform for CGT in collaboration with Tsinghua University.