VintaBio, a life sciences company with expertise in viral vectors and cell and gene therapy development, has opened a custom-built manufacturing facility in Philadelphia. The company has also raised $64 million in funding and appointed David Radspinner CEO.

VintaBio’s $64 million in funding, led by Decheng Capital, helped support the development of its 22,500-sq.-ft. Philadelphia facility, designed specifically to streamline cell and gene therapy development and manufacturing.

Radspinner joins the company from ILC Dover, a New Mountain Capital portfolio company, where he served as president for the organization’s biotherapeutics portfolio. Radspinner has spent nearly a decade leading the global marketing and sales efforts at top bioproduction companies including GE Healthcare Life Sciences (Cytiva) and Thermo Fisher Scientific.  

Previously he was vice president of the Americas at Cytiva, a provider of life sciences products and services. Radspinner also worked at Eli Lilly & Co. and Sanofi, developing analytical methodologies, drug products, and processes after receiving his PhD from the University of Arizona in Analytical Chemistry.

“I co-founded VintaBio to make sure viral vectors never prevent someone from receiving a life-changing treatment,” said Shangzhen Zhou. “At Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where we developed the first gene therapy product for a group of congenital blind patients, which became Luxturna, and then created a gene therapy for babies with spinal muscular atrophy, which became Zolgensma, I saw the important role viral vectors would play in advanced medicines. With VintaBio, we now want to provide the ability to scale cutting-edge therapies for thousands more in-need patients.”

“There are no commercially available facilities designed and built specifically for cell and gene therapy CDMO services that can also claim the decades of foundational viral vector experience the VintaBio team has, and that’s what attracted me to join the company,” said Radspinner. “Shangzhen and Junwei have played key roles developing the very first cell and gene therapies, giving us unparalleled insights into how we can leverage viral vectors to enable similarly impactful therapies across the life sciences spectrum.”