MeiraGTx Holdings plc announced that it will formally unveil its GMP manufacturing facility in Shannon, Ireland, with the Head of Irish Government, Micheál Martin, in attendance. The facility, online since earlier this year and stretching over 150,000 square feet, is the first commercial-scale gene therapy manufacturing site in Ireland. The facility is unique in its scale and integrated capabilities.

The site contains three facilities, one built to be flexible and scalable for viral vector production for clinical and commercial supply, in addition, a facility to manufacture plasmid DNA – the critical starting material for producing gene therapy products – and thirdly, a Quality Control (QC) hub performing advanced biochemical quality control testing for MeiraGTx clinical and commercial programs. The formal unveiling marks a critical step in MeiraGTx's mission to develop and deliver potentially curative treatments for patients living with sserious diseases. The Shannon site allows MeiraGTx to accelerate the development and delivery of gene therapy treatments to patients facing a wide range of both genetic and non-hereditary disorders – ranging from inherited vision loss, salivary-gland conditions, and neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, to potentially diabetes, obesity, and some cancers. By building end-to-end gene therapy development, testing and manufacturing capabilities in-house, MeiraGTx has put in place the infrastructure and technology required to avoid bottlenecks in clinical development, reduce regulatory risk, and ensure the high quality products for patients – all while lowering costs.

The facility will also allow MeiraGTx the ability to provide manufacturing services to potential collaborators, helping to lessen the impact of industry-wide shortages of vital elements such as plasmid DNA and quality control services. The facility, which is set to employ 100 people in its current phase, with the potential for that to increase to over 300, has been sited in Shannon due to its proximity to a number of world-class bioscience institutions, as well as partner companies in the healthcare sector. MeiraGTx is proud to have collaborated with The University of Limerick and the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) on skills and capability development and looks forward to building ever-closer relationships with other leading institutions across Ireland.