Automated manufacturing specialist Cellares is teaming up with Taiwanese biotech GenomeFrontier Therapeutics to evaluate the IDMO's Cell Shuttle platform for production of virus-free CAR-T therapies.
The partnership will focus on the compatibility of GenomeFrontier's virus-free manufacturing process with Cellares' Cell Shuttle platform, with the goal of producing the Taiwanese biotech's investigational cell therapy GF-CART01.
The CAR-T asset, at phase 1 in its most advanced program, is being developed to treat B-cell malignancies that include diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma and high-grade B-cell lymphoma, according to a Sept. 16 release.
Unlike today's crop of commercially approved CAR-T therapies that rely on viral vectors, GenomeFrontier is pursuing a virus-free manufacturing approach that research suggests could eliminate manufacturing costs and complexities in the production process, among other potential benefits.
Financial details of the collaboration weren’t disclosed.
The deal, which is Cellares’ first development collaboration in Asia, will concentrate on supporting transfection unit operations by leveraging the contract manufacturers' integrated electroporator, which uses electrical pulses to create a physical opening in a cell's membrane. Transfection, meanwhile, refers to the process of introducing other material into those cells.
“GenomeFrontier’s virus-free approach reflects the increasing complexity of next-generation cell therapy manufacturing,” Fabian Gerlinghaus, Cellares’ co-founder and chief executive, said in a statement. “The Cell Shuttle is built to automate complex processes, including electroporation-based workflows, with the scalability and reliability needed as therapies advance through clinical development."
Cellares touts its Cell Shuttle, roughly the size of a conference room, as a true end-to-end automated manufacturing platform for cell therapies. The technology, which Cellares argues can improve batch yield and success rates while lowering production costs, is paired with the company's companion platform Cell Q for automated in-process and release quality control.
News of the partnership comes fast on the heels of Cellares’ announced plans to reduce its workforce in California and New Jersey to the tune of about 168 jobs following the loss of a “large pharmaceutical customer.” The development was first announced on LinkedIn by Gerlinghaus in August.
Multiple sources have since reported the customer was Bristol Myers Squibb, which first linked up with Cellares in 2024 as part of a deal then potentially worth $380 million.