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During a Jan. 29 ribbon cutting for the company’s new Somerset County location, Cellares CEO and co-founder Fabian Gerlinghaus described the facility’s magnitude. “Bridgewater is such an important site for us,” he said. “It’s our flagship IDMO (Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization) Smart Factory.”

NJBIZ has reported on the rapidly growing San Francisco-headquartered cell therapy manufacturer as it begins its new chapter here in the great Garden State.

Cellares previously secured a $255 million Series C funding round, which is going toward this new state-of-the-art Smart Factory at 95 Corporate Drive in Bridgewater. Formerly occupied by Pfizer, the 118,000-square-foot facility represents the world’s first IDMO dedicated to clinical and industrial-scale cell therapy manufacturing.

The company expects to create 350 new jobs at the facility. The site will be powered by robotics and software and capable of producing more than 40,000 cell therapy batches a year. The location utilizes state-of-the-art Cell Shuttles, a modular platform for industrial scale cell therapy manufacturing.

“We started the company to accelerate access to life-saving cell therapies for patients, and ultimately, we are on a mission to meet the total patient demand for cell therapies globally,” said Gerlinghaus, who noted the company was started about five years ago.

Portions of the building remain under construction, but Cellares expects to manufacture its first clinical doses by the end of the year. Commercial-scale manufacturing would ramp up shortly after.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony featured a number of state, county, local officials, business leaders and other relevant stakeholders.

On behalf of the Murphy administration, New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) CEO Tim Sullivan welcomed Cellares to the Garden State. He thanked the company for the life-saving treatments it will provide out of Bridgewater, as well as its investment in New Jersey and the jobs and economic impact that will result.

Sullivan noted the Garden State’s life sciences heritage and robust ecosystem that Cellares is joining.

“Now with Cellares joining that constellation of folks who are choosing to make New Jersey a big part of their presence, building their manufacturing capability here – and fueling the innovation economy,” said Sullivan, nodding at the aforementioned Cell Shuttles.

More on the way: In an upcoming weekly issue of NJBIZ, we’ll take a closer look at the new Cellares facility, with additional pictures, details, features and potential impacts.