Vector BioMed launches with $15M to produce backlogged CAR-T component

31 Jan 2023
endpts.com
The manufacture of lentiviral vectors has been grabbing the attention of investors both small and large as of late, and another manufacturer is looking to jump onto the scene. Vector BioMed, a Maryland-based biomanufacturing company, has raised $15 million, according to CEO Boro Dropulić in an interview with Endpoints News. The impetus behind the company, Dropulić said, is for Vector BioMed to fill a gap in the demand and access to lentiviral vectors, a key component in CAR-T therapies and other treatments. Dropulić said there is an 18 to 24-month backlog for GMP lentiviral vectors, so one of the company’s goals is to try and assist to fill that gap, but Vector also wants to shake up the industry as well. “Your typical CDMO, basically an investigator or a partner comes with a construct and some process right, and will develop it for you, we’re very different. We are a solution provider from A to Z. And what that means is, is that simply an investigator or partner comes to us and say, ‘Hey, we have a gene and we want to put it into this type of cell.’ We can help them all the step of the way with our deep experience and understanding of how to make these vectors,” Dropulić told Endpoints. He said Vector BioMed will help clients design and optimize the vector before providing manufacturing services on a commercial scale. But he added that Vector will provide them at a scale for only what the customer needs, so there is no need for producing a large batch for a small clinical trial. “We’ve got a scalable platform process that can be used and cost-effective for our partners at every scale, so we bring value in terms of monetary value,” he said. The $15 million will go towards starting operations. Dropulić added that Vector BioMed has filled out its senior management team and has hired about a dozen people. This year Dropulić intends to grow the team and have between 20 and 30 on staff. Vector BioMed will do its manufacturing in a roughly 25,000-square-foot space in Gaithersburg, MD, and it is working on building out its client list. For any future funding, Dropulić said that Vector BioMed is good for now, but as it expands the need for funding may arise. With other companies coming into the lentiviral vector manufacturing space, Dropulić said what separates Vector BioMed from the pack is its scalable process for clients and the experts it has on staff. Dropulić said that Vector BioMed plans to work with its customers to help avoid the “potholes” that its clients could face from the preclinical and clinical stages to eventual commercialization. “We’ve made thousands of preclinical lots and hundreds of GMP lots in our day, and with that, has an understanding of what is a good vector, what’s bad, what works in this scenario, what works in that scenario. And all that expertise, we will provide and lend to our partners to help them be successful,” he said. Dropulić added that Vector BioMed will be a public benefit corporation and will devote 10% of its manufacturing capacity to make vectors for “underserved populations.” He said that this is done in partnership with Caring Cross, a nonprofit that he founded. “We have a pipeline of actors that really want to serve underserved populations. And so Vector BioMed will retain 10% of its capacity for that public service,” he said. Vector BioMed is coming onto the scene as more funds are being devoted to lentiviral vector manufacturers. Just last week, the lentiviral maker iVexSol secured $23.8 million in its latest Series A round that had names such as Bristol Myers Squibb, Charles River Laboratories and Asahi Kasei Medical attached. The financing for Vector BioMed was led by Viking Global and Casdin Capital.
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