Mustang Bio sells Worcester facility for $11M, to transfer manufacturing operations
PHOTO | Courtesy of Mustang Bio
Mustang Bio's building in Worcester.
Biopharmaceutical company Mustang Bio has sold its 27,000-square-foot development, manufacturing, and testing facility in Worcester to a Boston firm specializing in cell-and-gene therapy for $11 million. That firm, uBriGene Biosciences, will take over the manufacturing of Mustang Bio’s lead product candidates at the facility as part of acquisition.
The sale comes as Mustang Bio re-prioritizes its productions, discontinuing a portion of its portfolio of cell therapy and gene therapy programs, according to a Thursday press release from the company.
The sale of the Worcester facility is expected to be completed in June, according to the press release. It is contingent upon approval of lease transfer from Mustang Bio to uBriGene by the building’s owner, a UMass Chan Medical School affiliate, and the acceptance of employment at uBriGene among some key Mustang employees, according to the release.
The press release did not indicate how many employees would be transferred from Mustang to uBriGene. In a statement to the WBJ, Dr. Manuel Litchman, president and CEO of Mustang, said "the aligned goal for the partnership is to continue to grow the advanced therapy manufacturing ecosystem in the Greater Boston (Worcester) area," but said the company was not disclosing employment details.
Media contacts listed for Mustang were unable to offer additional information on uBriGene’s plans for the facility. The release indicates at least some current staff at the Worcester facility will continue work there under new employment.
“I want to thank our manufacturing team for their dedication in building and growing our Worcester facility since it opened in 2018. While we are optimizing our resources at Mustang, we look forward to continuing to work with many of our colleagues in this new capacity, as our CDMO,” said Litchman, president and CEO of Mustang, said in the press release.
Mustang expects to incur severance charges related to the facility transaction of approximately $2.1 million, but did not specify which personnel this would apply to, according to the release. Mustang expects future corporate savings of $24 million related to the reduced facility and clinical operations expenses.
“We believe that this strategic partnership with uBriGene will meet our portfolio manufacturing needs to reach critical upcoming data inflection points, while extending our cash runway,” said Litchman.
The sale of the facility includes an upfront payment of $6 million and an additional $5 million payable after equity raises following the close of the transaction.
Debra Manning, senior vice president of human resources at Mustang Bio, previously told the WBJ the company did not have plans to leave Worcester.
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