The Novo Nordisk Foundation has committed up to DKK 950 million (EUR 127 million) to establish a world-class facility for the final development steps and upscaling of cell therapies for testing in humans.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator will fill a critical gap in the Danish cell therapy ecosystem, helping to translate breakthroughs in cell therapy research into real-world treatments for people with diseases such as chronic heart failure, Parkinson's, kidney disease, type 1 diabetes and several forms of cancer.

The facility will be located at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Lyngby. It will serve public and private, national and international clients from academia, biotech and the pharmaceutical industry and is expected to be operational in 2027.

The facility will support several cell therapy types – those derived from embryonic stem cells, from induced pluripotent stem cells and from adult stem cells – and provide a range of services, from process development to product GMP manufacturing, product release and regulatory support. There will be built-in flexibility with regard to therapy types and services in order to respond to changing demands in a field that is developing rapidly.

While a few hospitals in Denmark already have small-scale facilities for manufacturing cell therapy products, the Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator will be the first large-scale production site and the first to gather such a broad range of expertise and services under one roof.