Sarepta Therapeutics Enters Manufacturing Partnership With Paragon Bioservices

(RTTNews) - Biopharmaceutical company Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT) said it has entered into a long-term strategic manufacturing partnership with Paragon Bioservices Inc.

The manufacturing partnership will provide Sarepta access to additional commercial manufacturing capacity for its micro-dystrophin Duchenne muscular dystrophy or DMD gene therapy program, as well as a manufacturing platform for future gene therapy programs, such as Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy or LGMD.

"We are rapidly building a formidable gene therapy engine, the hallmark of which will be the establishment of our Gene Therapy Center of Excellence in Columbus, Ohio. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that our ambition is matched with a sophisticated, robust and scalable manufacturing approach that can accelerate a steady stream of gene therapies to treat life-robbing genetic diseases for the near and long-term," said Doug Ingram, Sarepta's president and chief executive officer.

Paragon, one of Baltimore's largest biotechnology companies, employs a team of more than 300 at two locations in Maryland.

Paragon is constructing a new, 151,000 square-foot, GMP gene therapy bio-manufacturing facility, which will be online in February 2019 and is located in Anne Arundel County. It will include several 500L and 2000L single-use bioreactors for clinical trial and commercial material production.

In addition, Paragon has facilities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore or UMB BioPark where it currently provides full process, analytical development, and cGMP clinical manufacturing services from its approximately 100,000 square-foot facility.