Ori Biotech, which is on the cusp of launching an innovative process for manufacturing cell and gene therapies (CGTs), tallied more than $100 million in its latest funding round.
The company will use the money to add key personnel in all areas of its organization as it gears up for the launch of its CGT manufacturing platform, Ori said.
Additionally, Ori unveiled the launch of its Lightspeed Early Access Program, which provides early access to the manufacturing platform. The tech is scheduled to debut this year, with full commercialization expected in 2023.
Ori will offer a system that closes, automates, digitizes and standardizes the CGT manufacturing process in order to streamline the transition from preclinical discovery through clinical trials and onto commercial production. The company has previously stated it believes the first-generation platform could cut the cost of goods by half.
"Our mission as a company is to enable widespread patient access to life saving cell and gene therapies (and) one of the biggest obstacles to achieving this is cell and gene therapy manufacturing processes that are too expensive, too highly variable and too low throughput,” Jason Foster, chief executive of Ori, said in a statement.
Novalis LifeSciences led the latest round of fundraising. The round also included Amadeus Capital Partners, Delin Ventures, Northpond Ventures and Octopus Ventures, which participated in Ori’s 2020 series A round that raised $30 million. For the series B, Puhua Capital and Chimera Abu Dhabi joined on as new investors.