Cellares Announces Bristol Myers Squibb has Joined Technology Adoption Partnership Program to Evaluate Automated Manufacturing of CAR-T Cell Therapy on the Cell Shuttle Platform

Cellares, the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) dedicated to clinical and industrial-scale cell therapy manufacturing, recently announced global biopharmaceutical company and cell therapy developer Bristol Myers Squibb has joined its Technology Adoption Partnership (TAP) program. As part of the agreement, the pharma leader will enter into a proof-of-concept transfer process for the manufacture of one of its CAR-T cell therapies, using Cellares’ automated manufacturing platform, the Cell Shuttle.

Cellares’ TAP program is a fast and low-risk opportunity for cell therapy developers to adopt the company’s automated manufacturing technology for products in their pipeline. Bristol Myers Squibb is leveraging this program to evaluate the automated manufacturing process and produce comparability data confirming the Cell Shuttle as a viable, cost-efficient, and scalable manufacturing solution for cell therapies. Through its TAP program, Cellares is working with leading cell therapy developers to implement the Cell Shuttle as a clinical and commercial-stage GMP manufacturing solution at its IDMO Smart Factories.

“We’re pleased to welcome Bristol Myers Squibb to the TAP program, and we look forward to demonstrating the ease and efficacy of transferring one of BMS’s cell therapy process onto the Cell Shuttle in the months to come,” said Cellares CEO Fabian Gerlinghaus. “By combining integrated automation with a high-throughput platform, the Cell Shuttle offers unrivaled scalability for the cell therapy industry, while improving quality and lowering COGS.”

Cellares’ flexible manufacturing technology supports both autologous and allogeneic cell therapy processes and approximately 90% of cell therapy modalities. Manual processes can be automated and tech-transferred onto Cellares’ automated Cell Shuttle platform in only six months via the company’s Technology Adoption Partnership (TAP) program. Under the TAP program, participating cell therapy developers can tech-transfer their cell therapy processes onto a Cell Shuttle at any stage – during pre-clinical development, in the clinic, or after regulatory approval. Thanks to automation, standardization, and software-defined manufacturing (SDM), every tech transfer thereafter is instantaneous, to any other Cell Shuttle in any other IDMO Smart Factory anywhere in the world.

Cellares is the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) and takes an Industry 4.0 approach to mass manufacturing the living drugs of the 21st century. The company is both developing and operating integrated technologies for cell therapy manufacturing to accelerate access to life-saving cell therapies. The company’s Cell Shuttle integrates all the technologies required for the entire manufacturing process in a flexible and high-throughput platform that delivers true walk-away, end-to-end automation. Cell Shuttles will be deployed in Cellares’ Smart Factories around the world to meet total patient demand for cell therapies at global scale. Partnering with Cellares enables academics, biotechs, and pharma companies to accelerate drug development and scale out manufacturing, lower process failure rates, lower manufacturing costs, and meet global patient demand.

The company is headquartered in South San Francisco, CA, with its commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, NJ. The company is backed by world-class investors and has raised over $355 million in financing. For more information about Cellares, please visit cellares.com.

Please visit cellares.com/partnering/ to learn more about the TAP program and request a meeting with a business development representative.