Brammer Bio

About Brammer Bio

Brammer Bio was a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in viral vectors for the cell and gene therapy sector. The company was officially formed in March 2016 through the merger of Brammer Biopharmaceuticals and Florida Biologix. Brammer Biopharmaceuticals was founded in 2015 by Mark Bamforth, a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in the biologics CDMO space, including founding Gallus Biopharmaceuticals, and Steven Kasok. The other half of the merger, Florida Biologix, was founded by Dr. Richard Snyder and spun out of the University of Florida in 2015, bringing a decade of experience in producing early-stage viral vectors. The union, backed by investment firm Ampersand Capital Partners, created a comprehensive CDMO poised to address the growing demand in the advanced therapies market. The business was led by co-founders Mark Bamforth as CEO and Dr. Richard Snyder as Chief Scientific Officer. Bamforth, a chemical engineer with an MBA, previously spent 22 years at Genzyme Corp. before successfully building and selling two other CDMOs, Gallus BioPharmaceuticals and later Arranta Bio. Dr. Snyder has been a researcher in virus biology and gene transfer for over 37 years, holding positions at Harvard Medical School and the University of Florida, where he recognized that compliant manufacturing was critical to advancing gene therapy from the lab to clinical use. Brammer Bio provided end-to-end services for biopharma clients, from process and analytical development for Phase I/II clinical trials to commercial-scale manufacturing. Its core service was the clinical and commercial supply of viral vectors for both in vivo gene therapies and ex vivo gene-modified cell therapies. The company operated facilities in Florida for early-phase development and in Massachusetts for late-stage and commercial manufacturing. By 2019, Brammer Bio had executed over 100 projects and grown to a team of nearly 600 employees. Recognizing its rapid growth and strategic position in a high-demand market, Thermo Fisher Scientific announced its acquisition of Brammer Bio in March 2019 for approximately $1.7 billion in cash. The acquisition was completed by the end of the second quarter of 2019, and Brammer Bio was integrated into Thermo Fisher's pharma services business, expanding its capabilities into the viral vector manufacturing space.