Cellares & Sony Announce a Joint Development Collaboration to Integrate Flow Cytometry-Based Sorting & Online Analysis Into an Automated, High-Throughput Cell Therapy Manufacturing Platform

Cellares and Sony Corporation recently announced a collaboration to jointly develop and integrate advanced flow cytometry-based cell analysis and sorting solutions into the Cellares Cell Shuttle, an automated cell therapy manufacturing platform. Sony will leverage technologies from its CGX10 Cell Isolation System to develop new solutions. The combination of the two industry-leading technologies is expected to make Cellares’ Cell Shuttle the world’s first truly automated, end-to-end cell therapy manufacturing solution with cell analysis and sorting capabilities.

Cellares’ Cell Shuttle is an automated, scalable, and integrated manufacturing platform that represents a leap forward in cell therapy manufacturing. Designed to meet the rigorous demands of clinical and commercial-scale manufacturing, the Cell Shuttle automates and integrates all cell therapy manufacturing unit operations within a closed, ISO 8 environment. This integration and automation provide unprecedented scale, with the ability to manufacture 16 cell therapy batches in parallel, while reducing batch price by up to 50%, compared with conventional CDMO batch pricing, and reducing opportunities for contamination and operator error.

Sony’s CGX10 cell isolation system has the capability to sort cells at high speed, purity,  and viability in a closed system, which makes it an ideal solution for cell therapy applications. Integrating its sorting capabilities with the Cellares Cell Shuttle is expected to enhance the efficiency and scalability of sorting-dependent cell therapies, such as regulatory T cell (Treg) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) based workflows in the clinical or commercial setting.

Cellares and Sony will also jointly develop enhanced cell analysis capabilities for the Cell Shuttle, based on technology developed by Sony for its CGX10 system. The integration of Sony’s cell analysis capabilities on the Cell Shuttle is expected to further streamline the end-to-end automation of the cell therapy manufacturing processes, allowing for online real-time monitoring of cell quality and quantity. This is expected to improve the overall efficiency and scalability of cell therapy manufacturing processes, with a potential to further reduce costs and vein-to-vein times. This strengthens Cellares’ Cell Shuttle technology platform and its position as it plans to be the de-facto new standard for clinical and commercial scale cell therapy manufacturing for the majority of cell modalities.

“Sony’s CGX10 is used by companies developing various types of cell therapies, for which sorting is a critical step of the manufacturing process. Incorporating high-performance cell analysis and sorting capabilities in an end-to-end automated process paves the way for scaling up the manufacturing of those therapies,” said Katsunori Ogawa, Head of Life Science & Technology Business Unit at Sony Corporation. “The Cell Shuttle manufacturing platform is an ideal integration use case for our flow analysis and sorting technology, helping both Sony and Cellares offer unprecedented scale to anyone developing the next wave of innovative cell therapies. At Sony, we strongly believe that such collaborations are key to providing the best technology to the industry and ultimately have a meaningful impact in healthcare.”

“The Cell Shuttle allows our clients to meet the total global patient demand for their cell therapies, and by incorporating high throughput cell analysis and sorting into the Cell Shuttle, we are extending Cellares’ automated manufacturing capabilities to meet the needs of even more cell therapy developers,” added Fabian Gerlinghaus, CEO and co-founder of Cellares. “Sony’s technology will integrate seamlessly and provide throughput and full automation for manufacturing workflows requiring cell analysis and sorting. We  are pleased to work together with Sony to meet this industry need.”

To learn more about the Cell Shuttle, visit cellares.com. For more information on the CGX10 Cell Isolation System, visit sonybiotechnology.com.

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 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. While the Cell Shuttle automates cell therapy manufacturing, the Cell Q™ automates quality control at high throughput, both for in-process and batch release QC addressing both manufacturing and QC bottlenecks. Cell Shuttles and Cell Qs will be deployed in Cellares’ IDMO Smart Factories around the world enabling each Smart Factory to produce 10 times as many cell therapy batches as a conventional CDMO with the same facility size and headcount. Partnering with Cellares enables academic medical centers, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate cell therapy 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, California with its first commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Cellares is building a global network of IDMO Smart Factories with additional facilities under construction in Europe and Japan. The company is backed by world-class investors and has raised over $355 million in financing.

Sony Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation and is responsible for the Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S) business. With the mission to “create the future of entertainment through the power of technology together with creators,” we aim to continue to deliver Kando* to people around the world.

*Kando is a Japanese word that roughly translates to the sense of awe and emotion you feel when experiencing something beautiful and amazing for the first time.