Lonza teams with Agilent with aim to transform cell therapy manufacturing

Swiss CDMO Lonza and Agilent Technologies have agreed to collaborate on an effort to change the manufacturing process for personalized cell therapies.

Cell therapy products pose a significant manufacturing challenge because of their complexity and patient-specific needs. In order to ensure a consistent product, real-time information on critical quality attributes (CQAs) and analytics is critical throughout the production process.

Under the deal, Agilent will integrate its analytics technologies into Lonza’s Cocoon cell manufacturing platform to investigate new CQAs required for the release of the therapeutic to the patient. The two companies hope their collaboration will provide in-process controls that can be used on demand to deliver a more consistent drug product.

Lonza’s Cocoon is an automated and closed platform that was designed to overcome manufacturing challenges presented by patient-scale personalized therapies. Specific terms of the collaboration weren’t disclosed.

“There is a huge opportunity through this partnership to determine what the ideal critical quality attributes are for manufacturing the most effective cell therapy, and drive the manufacturing, optimally in real-time, to meet those criteria,” Nicholas Ostrout, a senior director for Lonza, said in a statement.

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Lonza, which has been on a $1 billion manufacturing expansion tear this year, inked a deal in early December with Leucid Bio to use the Cocoon Platform to manufacture high-quality cells in a bid to streamline the process.