Petri Dish: Vertex scales cell manufacturing; German biotech enters Mass.

Moving to Massachusetts isn’t a rare move for a growing biotech, but it is newsworthy. This week saw a German biotech announce its expansion to Greater Boston. Then Boston’s own Vertex Pharmaceuticals looked internationally to sign a deal for boosting its cell manufacturing. Finally, let’s meet the latest member of CureVac’s C-suite.

Here are more stories you should know from across the state’s life sciences, biotech and medical device industries. 

Vertex’s plan to scale up cell manufacturing 

Boston-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a new deal with a French biotech to up its production of cell therapies for type 1 diabetes. Vertex (Nasdaq: VRTX) announced on Tuesday that it had signed an exclusive license to TreeFrog Therapeutics proprietary cell manufacturing technology. The two companies said they would work together to scale-up TreeFrog's process to produce and amplify cells for Vertex's T1D therapies.

TreeFrog is set to receive a $25 million upfront payment, an equity investment from Vertex and up to $215 million in milestones. The French company could also receive an additional $540 million in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones on up to two future products and tiered single digit royalties.

German biotech expands to Massachusetts

Seamless Therapeutics is making its move to the United States with a new CEO and a new location in Lexington. The company’s new leader is Albert Seymour. He replaces acting CEO and co-founder Anne-Kristin Heninger, who will now oversee operations at the company’s Dresden site. Seymour comes to Seamless after serving as chief scientific officer and then CEO of Homology Medicines. The company’s new Lexington office will focus on R&D work for its gene editing technologies. 

CureVac’s C-suite news

CureVac, an mRNA-focused biotech with operations in Boston and Germany, has named a new chief business officer. Thaminda Ramanayake, who recently held the same role at Affini-T Therapeutics, will start at CureVac on June 1. Ramanayake’s past positions also include vice president and global head of business development in oncology at Sanofi, as well as roles at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals and Amgen. CureVac said Ramanayake’s experience centered on clinical collaborations, M&A, asset in-licensing and strategic financing initiatives.

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