Challenges And Opportunities At The New Cytiva

In 2019, more than 75% of the biological therapies approved by the FDA used technologies developed by GE Healthcare Life Sciences for manufacturing. Following the completion of a $21.9bn acquisition by Danaher, the company has rebranded to Cytiva. In Vivo speaks with CEO Emmanuel Ligner to learn more about his vision for the new company and the impact of COVID-19. 

As global demand for personalized and advanced biological therapies increases, Cytiva, formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences , is gearing up for a new chapter as a manufacturing partner to the biopharma industry.

Following completion of a $21.9bn acquisition by Danaher Corp., the company relaunched in April 2020 as Cytiva, a standalone company within Danaher’s Life Sciences division. However, the new group has faced several challenges already as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts business globally.

CEO Emmanuel Ligner told In Vivo that under Danaher he believed Cytiva was still in a strong position to thrive. “When we started considering acquisitions and looked at Danaher and their life sciences platform, it was exciting for us as we found a company which knows our industry well and is extremely present in life sciences research, development and manufacturing of therapies,” said Ligner. “We have a lot in common in terms of culture with Danaher. The company is dedicated to continuous improvement through the DBS [Danaher Business System] so they are always bringing tools to improve the companies that they acquire.”

Cytiva’s portfolio spans instruments, consumables, digital and enterprise solutions and services for research, process development and complete manufacturing workflows. Its technology has contributed in the nascent area of cell and gene therapies including the first successful pediatric trial of CAR-T therapy in 2012. This area continues to be one of great potential with more than 1,000 regenerative medicine clinical trials underway globally.

Cytiva CEO Emmanuel Ligner

Cytiva brands include ÄKTA, Amersham, Biacore, FlexFactory, HyClone, MabSelect, Sefia, Whatman, Xcellerex and Xuri and in 2019 more than 75% of the biological therapies approved by the US Food and Drug Administration used technologies developed by the company.

Accelerating growth, productivity and innovation across the industry will be the major strategic focus areas according to Ligner. “Our priority number one is no interruption of business and really securing supplies for our partners. Especially with the COVID-19 outbreak, we really need to protect ourselves and continue the work we have done all these years.”

He added, “We also have a plan which is to develop products for the industry that increase productivity and accelerate speed of drug development. We are working on ways to bring tools to customers that help them work faster and make the development and manufacturing of drugs cheaper.”

COVID-19 Challenges

Cytiva first felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-January when safety at its manufacturing facility in China came under review. “Very quickly we had to make sure we understood what the local authority required for us to continue manufacturing,” explained Ligner.

With the pressure of such a large percentage of drugs in the US market using Cytiva’s products in one shape or form, “we had to continue to supply our customers and ensure we were operating safely and in compliance to local authority regulations,” Ligner said.

As the outbreak escalates, Cytiva has focused on developing safety strategies in each of the different countries it operates in. With nearly 7,000 employees across 40 sites, this was no easy task said Ligner.

A second challenge has been prioritizing development needs as pharmaceutical companies accelerate their COVID-19 research. “As Cytiva is at the center of R&D and manufacturing an essential cure for COVID-19, we’ve had to make sure we are identifying the needs of our partners and prioritize them to ensure COVID-19 comes to the top of the pile. We’ve tried to ensure that we are responding with speed and supporting research in the best way possible,” Ligner highlighted.

The company has been working to scale monoclonal antibody manufacturing and rapid immunochromatography for antibody testing. It is now in partnership with more than 35 companies to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. In June it announced a partnership with Entos Pharmaceuticals to optimize a clinical manufacturing solution for the company’s Covigenix COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate. The pharmaceutical firm is the developer of next generation nucleic acid medicines using its Fusogenix platform, which delivers unmodified molecules directly into the cytosol of target cells.

An experimental vaccine developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane is also using a specific prototype affinity resin from Cytiva for vaccine purification. The vaccine is in preclinical testing.

Aside from COVID-19, Cytiva is investing heavily in its cell and gene therapy production and building a new factory in Switzerland. “This is an area that is growing rapidly, and we expect it to continue,” said Ligner. However, as industry needs evolve, Cytiva is aiming to cover the complete spectrum of current and future therapies.  “There is not one area that we aim to just focus on, although we are really well positioned in monoclonal antibodies, we always try to look across all the different investments and modalities made by industry to ensure we are participating and supporting these efforts.”