The project’s main mission is to enable future manufacturing and delivery of cell therapy for the treatment of cancer. The new site is scheduled to be operational by 2023.

A new approach to eradicate cancer cells, cell therapy focuses on harnessing the power of a patient’s own immune system. In one specific form, called CAR T-therapy, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells are derived from a patient’s T-cells and engineered to eliminate cancer cells. To produce CAR-T therapies, blood cells are collected from a patient and used as a basis to manufacture a therapeutic product that acts as a personalized medicine.

The choice to build the new cell therapy manufacturing in Flanders is no coincidence. The local life sciences ecosystem has been considered a world-class biopharma hub as well as a European pharma valley for many years. It is home to one of the world’s leading advanced therapy clusters, with well-connected, local end-to-end capabilities in terms of supply chain and manufacturing.

Within and beyond this life sciences ecosystem, Janssen Pharmaceutica is one of the most prominent biopharma players. The company has over 5,000 local employees, 2,400 of which are scientists working at the company’s site in Beerse, Flanders. What’s more, yearly, Janssen Pharmaceutica invests EUR 1.5 billion in R&D and innovation. 

The development and production of transformative therapies, such as CAR T-cell therapy, requires great innovative power and strong collaboration ties. In that sense, Janssen Pharmaceutica’s decision to set up the new manufacturing site in Flanders is an obvious choice, too. “By picking this location, we will benefit from Janssen’s significant scientific and manufacturing presence and expertise as well as from the strong existing local expertise, infrastructure and talent base,” concludes Sonja Willems, managing director of Janssen-Cilag Benelux and chair of the Flanders Investment & Trade board of directors.