Ascend Advanced Therapies, a gene-to-GMP development partner, has partnered with EW Healthcare Partners to expand the footprint and capabilities of the company in the U.S. and to continue investing further in infrastructure. Advanced BioScience Laboratories (ABL), a biotherapy, oncolytic and viral vector CDMO located in Rockville, MD, a portfolio company of EW Healthcare Partners, will become part of Ascend. EW will also make a significant capital investment in Ascend to support continued growth of the company.
 
The addition of the ABL Rockville team and facility aligns development and manufacturing experience with additional virus modalities and GMP capacity for adeno-associated virus (AAV) production. The merger also expands fill/finish capacity in the U.S. creating a comprehensive R&D to commercial offering.
 
“This alignment deepens our already exceptional AAV expertise with the new team members from ABL. Not only are we expanding our GMP capacity, but this merger allows the team to offer customers an even more sophisticated gene-to-GMP experience,” said Mike Stella, CEO of Ascend. “We are incredibly pleased to welcome EW Healthcare Partners as a new investor in Ascend and ABL to the Ascend family. The strong support from our existing investors has been instrumental in completing this transaction and will be crucial as we continue to drive growth in the new company.”
 
“We have known Ascend and followed its progress in creating effective and high-quality gene therapies, and have been impressed with how the management team, which we also backed at Cognate BioServices, has expanded the business. We are excited about merging ABL with Ascend to create a scalable CDMO that will serve as a global platform for the manufacturing of advanced therapies. We have considerable experience and expertise in this space and the combined company’s strategic plans are very well aligned with our long-term vision. We look forward to working with the Ascend and ABL teams to further growth”, concluded Evis Hursever, Ph.D., Managing Director of EW Healthcare Partners.
 
This past year Ascend also made operational investments in the U.S. and Europe, with GMP capacity purchased in Alachua, FL that’s undergoing a capacity expansion, including new fill/finish capabilities, and in Munich, Germany, where the company will soon launch GMP quality control (QC) testing, analytical, and process development capacity.