Artiva Biotherapeutics Establishes U.S. Research and Manufacturing Facility for NK Cell Therapy Pipeline Development and Clinical Supply

August 12, 2021 |

5 min read

Artiva Biotherapeutics, Inc. (“Artiva”), an oncology company focused on developing and commercializing primary allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the expansion of the Company’s U.S. facilities in San Diego

52,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in San Diego with R&D and GMP manufacturing center to open in 2022
Builds on current capability at Artiva’s partner GC LabCell’s facility in Republic of Korea
Custom-built GMP manufacturing center further expands Artiva’s leadership position in scaled, off-the-shelf NK and CAR-NK therapeutic manufacturing for treatment of solid and hematological cancers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Artiva Biotherapeutics, Inc. (“Artiva”), an oncology company focused on developing and commercializing primary allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the expansion of the Company’s U.S. facilities in San Diego. The new 52,000-square-foot facility will include research and process development laboratories and a multi-suite custom-built Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) manufacturing center to support NK and CAR-NK cell production for Artiva’s pipeline development and clinical trial supply. The new facility and capabilities will be in addition to Artiva’s continued research and GMP manufacturing at its partner GC LabCell’s state-of-the-art 300,000-square-foot Cell Center, which comprises research labs, process development labs, and a 50,000-square-foot GMP cell therapy manufacturing facility in the Republic of Korea.

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Artiva’s San Diego NK cell therapy research and GMP manufacturing facility will be located at 5505 Morehouse Drive, a building being newly redeveloped by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. The new 52,000-square-foot facility will include research and process development laboratories and a multi-suite custom-built Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) manufacturing center to support NK and CAR-NK cell production for Artiva’s pipeline development and clinical trial supply. The facility build-out is already underway and is anticipated to be completed in 2022. (Photo: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.)

“Artiva’s new San Diego R&D and manufacturing facility is an important element of the Company’s expansion and will support research and development for our evolving pipeline of optimized NK and CAR-NK cell therapies for the treatment of cancer,” said Peter Flynn, PhD, COO of Artiva. “The custom-built manufacturing center will produce clinical product and position Artiva for pivotal studies and potential commercial supply.”

“Artiva’s manufacturing-first approach, leveraging more than 10 years of pioneering NK cell therapy R&D by GC LabCell, has enabled us to successfully initiate clinical trials of our first allogeneic, cryopreserved, off-the-shelf NK cell therapy and positions us to file INDs on two novel and distinct CAR-NK cell therapy programs in 2022,” added Fred Aslan, M.D., CEO of Artiva. “Now with our new facility, we continue to expand and build on our leadership position in the evolving field of allogeneic cell therapies.”

“We are honored that Artiva approached us to partner on the build-out of this critical new research and manufacturing center that will support the company in its mission to develop and deliver safe, effective and versatile cancer therapies,” said Daniel Ryan, Co-Chief Investment Officer and San Diego Regional Market Director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Artiva’s cell therapies are designed to leverage the innate anti-tumor biology and safety features of NK cells. The therapies are further optimized using Artiva’s AlloNK™ platform for targeted anti-cancer activity by either genetically expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to drive tumor cell engagement or combining with therapeutic antibodies or innate-cell engagers for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) enhancement. Artiva’s manufacturing platform supports large-scale production and cryopreservation of off-the-shelf allogeneic NK cell therapies and proprietary CAR-NK and NK-specific gene-editing technologies to augment therapeutic activity.

Artiva’s Pipeline of NK Cell Therapies for Cancer

Artiva’s pipeline includes AB-101, an ADCC enhancer NK-cell therapy for use in combination with monoclonal antibodies or innate-cell engagers. The company is currently advancing a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AB-101 in combination with rituximab for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphomas. The company’s CAR-NK programs include AB-201, a novel HER2-specific CAR-NK cell therapy for the treatment of HER2+ solid tumors, and AB-202, a CD19-specific CAR-NK cell therapy for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, both with plans to file INDs in 2022.

About Artiva Biotherapeutics

Artiva’s mission is to deliver highly effective, off-the-shelf, allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell-based therapies that are safe and accessible to cancer patients. The company has entered into therapeutic NK cell collaborations and/or license agreements with Merck and with Affimed N.V. Artiva’s AlloNK™ platform incorporates cell expansion, activation and engineering technology developed by the Company’s corporate partner, GC LabCell, a member of the GC family of companies, one of the Republic of Korea’s leading biopharmaceutical groups. Artiva is headquartered in San Diego. For more information, visit www.artivabio.com.