Fresenius Kabi and Cellular Origins have announced a partnership to advance the field of cell and gene therapy (CGT) by automating the manufacturing process.
Fresenius Kabi’s cell therapy processing technologies will be integrated into Cellular Origins’ Constellation robotic platform.
The partnership’s primary objective is to streamline the production of cell therapies at scale, maintaining the use of developers’ preferred tools for processing.
This initiative automates the production of advanced therapies, aiming to enhance production efficiency and reduce the risk of human error-induced inconsistencies.
The integration process will initially concentrate on Fresenius Kabi’s Cue cell processing system. This system is expected to be fully automated within Constellation, covering aspects from consumable transport to full process operation and data management.
Cellular Origins CEO Dr Edwin Stone stated: “Cellular Origins has developed Constellation to enable fully industrialised manufacture of cell and gene therapies.
“Forming strong collaborations is essential to ensuring the industry can implement the transformative power of automation whilst using the tools that are best for the biology and, therefore, for patients. Fresenius Kabi is an industry-leading developer of automated technologies to support the production of cell therapies.
“This is why we are excited to be working closely with their team to unlock the power of automation throughout the entire manufacturing process, with the goal of bringing life-saving therapies to patients, faster and more affordably.”
The companies will begin their integration efforts with the Cue cell processing system, which is tailored for automated and precise small-volume cell processing.
Following success with Cue, the partnership then plans to extend its focus to include Fresenius Kabi’s broader cell therapy technology portfolio, such as the Lovo cell processing system and other products currently under development.
In October 2024, Fresenius Kabi won US Food and Drug Administration approval for Otulfi (ustekinumab-aauz), a Stelara biosimilar.
Source: pharmaceutical-technology.com
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