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Meet Novartis-Penn Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies - 2017 FOYA Honorable Mention Winner

Novartis Penn
Facility of the Year Awards, An ISPE Program

Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research & University of Pennsylvania Health System is one of three 2017 Facility of the Year® Honorable Mention winners for their Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. Projects selected for recognition of an Honorable Mention Award are projects that utilize new technology or are located in a challenging region of the world. These projects do not win for a specific category, but are clearly successful projects that overcame significant challenges in planning, execution, and delivery and deserve recognition for their achievements.

2017 Facility of the Year Awards Honorable Mention - PT Kalbio Global Medika The Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies (CACT) brings together Penn Medicine’s intellectual resources combined with a pharmaceutical industry leader in Novartis, with the mutual goal to find more effective treatments for cancer. Located on Penn Medicine’s campus in Philadelphia, amidst both clinical care and laboratory facilities, the 30,000 sf CACT is poised to become the core center for research and early clinical development of personalized cellular therapies for cancer. This facility will expand on Penn’s groundbreaking research using Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) technology, which enables a patient’s own immune cells to be reprogrammed outside of their body and re-infused to “hunt” for and potentially destroy tumors. The innovative design concepts implemented in the center have:

  • Increased program efficiency by 25%
  • Doubled process efficiency
  • Maximized daylighting
  • Increased communication and collaboration between researchers

The CACT is poised to become a true facility of the future – an epicenter for the research and early clinical development of personalized cellular therapies for many forms of cancer. The facility is a shining example of a successful academic/corporate partnership where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Together, the institutions can better expedite novel therapies for diseases of all kinds.


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ISPE congratulates the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research & the University of Pennsylvania Health System team for their achievements and their Facility of the Year award-winning entry. Learn more about the 2017 FOYA Honorable Mention winner.

Has your company recently designed, built, or renovated a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical or biotechnology facility that is best in its class? Submit your project for the 2018 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards Program, and your facility may win a coveted Facility of the Year Award.


Facility of the Year Awards Banquet Join ISPE and prominent industry leaders as we recognize the 2017 Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) Category Winners for their innovation and creativity in pharmaceutical and biotechnology facility design, construction, and operation, at the FOYA Banquet on the evening of Tuesday, 6 June 2017 in Arlington, VA USA, during the ISPE/FDA/PQRI Quality Manufacturing Conference.