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CAR T-cell therapy can help change what’s possible for patients facing cancer. But its promise depends on an important component: whether it reaches the patient in a timely manner.
“Time is critical because these patients have very aggressive cancers and every moment matters,” says Cindy Perettie, Executive Vice President, Head of Kite.
CAR T-cell therapy is fundamentally different from conventional medicines. Each treatment is created specifically for one patient using their own white blood cells as the starting material. The cells are collected and sent to a specialized manufacturing facility where they’re reengineered to recognize and attack specific cancer before being returned to the patient for infusion.
In CAR T, manufacturing isn’t just part of the process; manufacturing is the therapy. For patients who have exhausted prior treatment options, CAR T can represent a new path forward.
“When they told me I would be receiving CAR T, it didn't register in my mind as a patient that this is only one treatment,” says Kelly, a blood cancer patient and mother of three.
That same personalization that makes CAR T so advanced also makes it uniquely complex and unforgiving. Every step must be executed with speed, precision and absolute reliability. Experience matters, and in CAR T manufacturing it can’t be replicated quickly.
Over time, Kite has built a fully integrated, global, in-house cell therapy manufacturing network, purpose-built for the demands of CAR T-cell therapy. That network now spans three state-of-the art facilities strategically located near major international airports in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Amsterdam, enabling quick transport to eligible patients around the world.
Building this capability required sustained investment across people, process and infrastructure, creating an end-to-end manufacturing system that few others have been able to replicate at scale.
At Kite, CAR T doesn’t stop at the lab, it has to reach patients as quickly as possible and reach all eligible patients who could potentially benefit. A delay in manufacturing isn’t just an inconvenience, it can determine whether or not a patient is still eligible for treatment.
For Kite’s manufacturing teams, this responsibility becomes personal. They’re fully aware that behind every therapy being made, they’re holding the cells of a patient in their own hands who’s waiting, hoping and counting on it to arrive on time.
“Cancer doesn't take a break on weekends or on holidays, therefore it's critically important that manufacturing remains open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” says Laura Alquist, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Technical Operations, Kite.
The personalized nature is what makes CAR T manufacturing both challenging and unique. Every treatment requires precise coordination from collection to engineering, testing and delivery. Every step must be done right the first time.
From blood draw to treatment release, Kite’s manufacturing process takes as little as two weeks (14 days in the U.S. and 17 days outside the U.S.). That speed, delivered with consistency and quality at scale is unmatched in the industry.
“Now that we operate at scale and can bring our therapies reliably and consistently to patients around the globe, this sets us up nicely as we move into larger diseases like multiple myeloma or autoimmune,” says Cindy.
For patients who cannot wait, CAR T manufacturing excellence isn’t just operational success, it’s hope delivered.
Watch the video above to see how Kite’s teams work round the clock to deliver this hope every day.