VILNIUS, Sept 3 – Lithuania opened a €61 million cell therapy and personalised medicine centre in Vilnius on Thursday, expanding the country’s capacity to develop and manufacture advanced biological treatments.
The 3,500-square-metre BIO CITY III facility, located at the Vilnius City Innovation Industrial Park, is the first cell therapy and personalised medicine centre of its kind in the Baltic states. It has 20 independent production lines compliant with current Good Manufacturing Practice standards and is expected to employ around 100 highly qualified specialists in biotechnology, bioengineering, molecular biology and other life sciences fields.
The €61 million project has received a €48 million loan from Lithuania’s national development bank ILTE under its Billion for Business financing programme, with the remaining investment financed by the company.
The facility is designed for the development and production of advanced cell therapies and personalised medicine products. Its infrastructure includes integrated quality-control laboratories, advanced cleanroom systems and isolated production areas, allowing individualised therapies for different patients to be manufactured simultaneously while maintaining strict controls against cross-contamination.
The centre will support the development and manufacture of cell therapy products, personalised therapeutic vaccines and regenerative medicine products, as well as 3D human tissue printing technologies. Its capabilities will also include advanced therapies such as CAR-T treatments, in which a patient’s immune cells are modified for therapeutic use.
The centre was built by Kamieninių ląstelių tyrimų centras, or the Stem Cell Research Centre, a company within the Northway group. It is part of the wider BIO CITY biotechnology campus being developed in Vilnius.
BIO CITY already brings together capabilities in biological medicines, gene therapy and cell therapy. Two biotechnology manufacturing buildings operate within BIO CITY I, while Celltechna, a gene therapy centre located in BIO CITY II, has been operating since 2024. BIO CITY III adds dedicated cell therapy and personalised medicine capacity to the ecosystem.
The expansion comes as Lithuania seeks to increase the economic weight of its life sciences industry.
The Lithuanian government said this week that the broader life sciences, biotechnology and health technologies sector accounts for about 3.7% of the country’s gross domestic product.
Separately, Lithuania’s life sciences strategy sets a target for the sector’s value added to reach 5% of GDP by 2030.
The opening of BIO CITY III adds specialised manufacturing infrastructure to Lithuania’s growing life sciences base, strengthening its capacity to develop and produce advanced therapies for international biotechnology and pharmaceutical markets.
