Life Sciences

BioMagnetic Solutions Confirms ISO Certifications and GMP Facility Build in the Innovation Park at Penn State

Gamma Biosciences, a global life sciences company serving the advanced therapy market, today announced that portfolio company BioMagnetic Solutions (BMS) has signed a lease with GLP Development to build a cGMP-grade production facility in Innovation Park at Penn State. The site is expected to be fully operational in mid-2022 with more than 13,000 square feet of purpose-built office, laboratory, and cGMP manufacturing space. ISO 13485 and ISO 9001:2015 certifications have also been achieved to ensure the highest quality standards for users of the platform.

BioMagnetic Solutions is a next-generation cell selection and bioseparation technology company that develops advanced ferrofluid-based immunomagnetic cell selection systems. Founded in 2011 by Dr. Paul Liberti and Ted Liberti in State College, PA, the company has remained focused on developing proprietary nanoscale ferrofluids for high-performance cell selection and other bioseparation applications from research, to clinical development and commercial scale. In the new space, the team will work to support full commercialization of its proprietary selection technology platform.

“BMS began operations in the State College, Pennsylvania area, and when we originally signed our investment deal, we knew that we would want to continue growing in the state,” said Phil Vanek, CTO at Gamma Biosciences. “When we connected with the Innovation Park and the Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology teams at Penn State, we knew we had found the right location to work on developing this game-changing technology while also contributing to this thriving ecosystem to support education and innovation.”

“Across our university’s $1 billion research enterprise, few areas have as much potential for widespread impact as biotechnology,” Geanie Umberger, Associate Vice President, Industry Research Partnerships at Penn State noted. “It is rewarding to see that BioMagnetic Solutions, a critical part of the Gamma Biosciences portfolio of companies, decided to continue their company’s evolution in State College. The alignment of their business interests with Penn State’s academic, research, workforce, and economic development capabilities, opens the door for a robust technical and operational collaboration between our faculty, staff, students, and the BioMagnetic Solutions team.”

“We are inspired to carry forward the BioMagnetic Solutions legacy to help manufacturers overcome the challenges in scale and security of supply that are hindering true progress,” Ted Liberti, Chief Business Officer at BioMagnetic Solutions commented. “We have demonstrated that this technology is able to support process development and manufacturing efforts for new cell and gene-based medicines at scale, and the next step is working with developers to deliver security and reliability for their processes.”

The state-of-the-art facility will house up to 30 technical, operational, and commercial personnel to support the launch of both Research Use and Clinical versions of the BioMagnetic Solutions proprietary cell separation platform. The product launch is expected in Q1 of 2022.