Brammer Bolsters Leadership Team and Announces Chief Quality Officer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Brammer Bio ("Brammer"), a best-in-class viral vector contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for companies developing gene-modified cell therapies and in vivo gene therapies, announces recent leadership appointments to support the growth of the organization.

Steve Falcone joins Brammer as Chief Quality Officer, reporting directly to Brammer's president and CEO, Mark Bamforth. Steve brings 22 years of industry experience, most recently from Sanofi where he was overseeing Quality for three commercial biologics manufacturing sites.  Prior to Sanofi, he was with Amgen where he had key roles, which included Head of External Affairs in the International Quality organization and General Manager of two of Amgen's facilities with responsibility for viral-based cancer therapy manufacturing.  

Steve Falcone will work closely with Brammer's leadership team and our quality organization to ensure that Brammer's operations deliver commercial viral vector products for clients globally.

Chris Murphy has been appointed Chief Operations Officer.  Chris joined Brammer as Chief Manufacturing Officer in June 2017 and has played a key role in leading the teams to expand our Alachua, Fla site, complete the Cambridge, Mass commercial build-out and start-up in 2018, and develop and execute the plans for viral vector manufacturing in Lexington, Mass.  He has been instrumental in driving the program to ensure our Cambridge site is inspection ready this year.  

In addition, Steve Favaloro has been appointed Chief Financial Officer.  Steve has been a part of the senior Brammer leadership team since May 2016 in various roles, most recently Vice President of Finance and Accounting.  He became an Officer of Brammer Bio in January 2018.

Mark Bamforth commented, "We are thrilled to welcome Steve Falcone to Brammer Bio.  His Quality knowledge and experience in leading commercial quality organizations is invaluable.  The internal appointments of Chris Murphy and Steve Favaloro will better position us for future success to enable our clients in Helping to Cure®."

The Brammer team consists of over 525 extraordinary employees focused exclusively on serving the gene therapy needs of clients and their patients.  Brammer offers end-to-end CDMO services from clinical supply in Florida through commercial manufacturing at two sites in Massachusetts.

At its Alachua, Fla. facilities, Brammer is building on a 12+ year track record of supplying first-in-human clinical materials by expanding its process and analytical development laboratories and quality control laboratories and warehousing in early 2019. This expansion follows a doubling of its clinical capacity in Alachua in 2017. The site incorporates equipment and design concepts that are setting the standard for process and analytical development for clinical trials and ultimately commercial scale manufacturing. More than 250 Alachua-based skilled employees occupy a three-building campus.

Brammer is conducting a further expansion of its first commercial facility, located in Cambridge, Mass., increasing the number of commercial suites, supporting up to 2,000-liter suspension and adherent processes. Construction of this additional capacity will be completed in the first half of 2019. Brammer acquired its Cambridge facility, as well as a warehouse and distribution center in Somerville, Mass., from Biogen in January 2017. These facilities are operated by a talented team of over 275, manufacturing multiple vector products in support of late-stage clinical programs leading to commercial supply.

In Lexington, Mass., Brammer is renovating a 50,000-square foot facility as its second commercial facility for adherent processes using the Pall iCELLis® 500 platform and Pall Allegro™ STR Single-use Stirred Tank Bioreactors. Construction will be completed in mid-2019.

By the end of 2019, Brammer will have over 750 employees focused solely on providing viral vector products to multiple clients. The company has more than doubled its staff over the past year.

About Brammer Bio

Brammer Bio provides clinical and commercial supply of vectors for in vivo gene therapy and ex vivo gene-modified cell therapy, along with process and analytical development, and regulatory support, enabling large pharma and biotech clients to accelerate the delivery of novel medicines to improve patients' health. Brammer is Helping to Cure®. Brammer is owned by Ampersand Capital Partners, the only institutional investor in the company, and its founders. For more information, please visit www.brammerbio.com.

About Ampersand Capital Partners

Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector.  With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of its core healthcare sectors. Additional information about Ampersand is available at www.ampersandcapital.com.

Brammer Bio:
250 Binney Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
www.brammerbio.com

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