Editas Medicine and Azzur Group Expand Partnership to Accelerate Editas’ Manufacturing Capabilities for Advancing the EDIT-301 Program Through Approval to Commercialization

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and DEVENS, Mass., July 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (Nasdaq: EDIT), a clinical-stage genome editing company, and Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand (COD), an Azzur Group company, today announced the companies have expanded their multi-year contract to support the scaling of EDIT-301, Editas Medicine’s experimental cell therapy medicine under investigation for the treatment of severe sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT), from approval to commercialization. The expanded agreement includes compliant cleanroom space and labs services at Azzur’s COD site in Devens, Massachusetts. Editas Medicine has utilized Azzur’s services to execute pre-clinical and early-phase clinical manufacturing activities for its cell medicines, including EDIT-301 for the treatment of sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, since 2020.

Azzur Group recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the Devens site, which is its third COD facility in the Greater Boston Area. The building is expected to open in the first quarter of 2024.

“Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand has been a trusted and reliable partner of Editas Medicine for nearly three years, providing us with the dedicated, cGMP-compliant space necessary to support our clinical manufacturing and quality management, which are critical components to making medicines,” said Harry Gill, Senior Vice President, Operations, Editas Medicine. “As our partnership has grown, Azzur has continued to support us and our evolving needs to manufacture clinical supply to support the advancement of our RUBY trial and EdiTHAL trial of EDIT-301. The new facility in Devens will further support and enable us to advance our programs through the clinic and towards commercialization as we work to achieve our mission to deliver transformative new medicines to people living with serious diseases.”

“The Azzur COD model helps our partners accelerate time to clinic and commercialization with on-demand cleanrooms supported by GMP wraparound services, allowing our customers to focus on their science while we focus on compliance,” said Ravi Samavedam, Chief Innovation Officer, Azzur Group. “Our vision as an organization is to enable the acceleration of life science innovations that change patients’ lives, and our partnership with Editas Medicine is a perfect example of how the industry can come together to achieve a common goal.”