Mecart, the Canadian cleanroom specialist, has been selected by the US-based New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) for a new GMP cleanroom at its Cell and Gene Therapy Development Center. The NJII is based in Newark, US.
Commenting on the project with Mecart, Dr Haro Hartounian, NJII Senior Executive Director, Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Innovation, said: “We were excited to meet with the Mecart team, travel to Quebec City to visit with their leadership, and review the project in detail with them. It has been a great experience thus far and we know that we picked the best partner for this critical project.”
The project represents a new GMP cleanroom of approximately 1,600 square feet of ISO 7 space developed specifically for advanced cell and gene therapy processing and manufacturing operations.
“It’s an honour to work with such an innovative company that focuses on local collaboration with its technological resources, like this new cleanroom”, said Patrice Genois, General Manager of Mecart and Vice President of PolR.
Training facility
The NJII is an NJIT corporation that applies the intellectual and technological resources of the state’s science and technology university to challenges identified by industry partners.
Upon completion, the new GMP site will also serve as a training facility and a venue for collaborating with local manufacturing.
Charles Lipeles, Vice President of US Operations, commented: “When NJII approached Mecart, they were clear that lead time was crucial as was a very tight specification for their state-of-the-art GMP cleanroom. They had very aggressive goals, made more challenging when dealing with an institution with government ties, but we were ready for the challenge. We are excited to work with the NJII and NJIT teams and help them exceed their goals with this new suite of cleanrooms."
Construction is planned to begin later this year and will be completed in Q1 of 2020.
