Vector BioMed, a Gaithersburg-based (910 Clopper Rd Suite 200S) biomanufacturing company specializing in the manufacture of lentiviral vectors, today announced its launch and first financing round led by Viking Global Investors and Casdin Capital. The funds will support the acceleration of commercial operations to provide rapid access to high-quality lentiviral vectors for pre-clinical development, clinical trials, and commercialization. Viral vectors are engineered viruses used to deliver gene therapies and gene-modified cell therapies as well as certain vaccines. In contrast to traditional contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), “Vector BioMed is a solution provider that will provide partners with the capabilities to take their lentiviral vector-based medicinal concepts into the clinic and accelerate their path to commercialization. Vector BioMed will help address the industry’s current vector supply bottleneck by providing lentiviral vectors at scale, while also offering turnkey solutions for vector design and optimization, pre-clinical manufacturing, GMP manufacturing, and other support services.”
Per the press release: In conjunction with the funding and launch, co-founder Boro Dropulić, Ph.D., MBA has been named Chief Executive Officer of Vector BioMed. Dr. Dropulić brings more than 30 years of leadership and experience in the design, development, manufacturing, clinical translation, regulatory, clinical implementation, and commercialization of Lentiviral vector technology. Among his career accomplishments, Dr. Dropulić led the team that first demonstrated the safety of lentiviral vectors in humans with his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania. Later he founded Lentigen, which developed the lentiviral vector used to produce Kymriah™, the first FDA-approved gene therapy product. He implemented and directed the company’s highly profitable CDMO business model and therapeutic pipeline of gene therapy products. Dr. Dropulić is also a co-founder and Executive Director of Caring Cross, a non-profit dedicated to accelerating the development of advanced medicines and enabling access to cures for all patients.
