TrakCel Announces Strategic Partnership With WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies

TrakCel and WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies recently announced a collaborative agreement designed to accelerate the seamless delivery of advanced therapy treatments to bring an end-to-end solution to mutual customers.

To provide full visibility and control of their collection-to-administration supply chain, cell therapy companies need to ensure consistent product handling and data capture across all supply chain partners. This is increasingly being achieved through the deployment of supply chain management software, such as TrakCel’s platform. Challenges can arise if software-driven workflows do not account for established processes in place at each supply chain partner. For example, if a contract manufacturer needs to change their processes to fit in with those designed into supply chain management software, this can increase costs and timelines for software adoption. Conversely, rewriting software after it becomes apparent that it will not work for a contract manufacturer also incurs additional expense and can delay software deployment.

TrakCel and WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies will leverage configured manufacturing module in TrakCel’s software, based around WuXi’s current standard operating procedures and preferred workflows. The design of this module will be based on the companies’ long and extensive working relationship. WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies was the first CDMO to use TrakCel’s software and its Philadelphia, PA site currently has a greater number of users than any other facility in the supply chain. The resultant pre-built manufacturing module in the TrakCel platform will shorten the time and costs associated with deploying an end-to-end solution to TrakCel and WuXi’s mutual clients.

Both WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies and TrakCel will continue to build from their long extensive partnership by exploring opportunities to further enhance their combined service to their mutual customers. As one example, automated population of TrakCel’s scheduling system with data from WuXi’s own manufacturing capacity plans will further strengthen the ability of existing clients of both companies to accurately plan patient treatment schedules. By increasing the ability to maximize the utilization of contracted manufacturing resources, this should have a considerable impact on cost of goods to patients and healthcare providers.

“As one of the first CDMOs to use TrakCel’s software and the supply chain partner with more users than any other facility, WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies is well placed to collaborate with TrakCel to identify a more efficient way of working together. It is the latest development in TrakCel’s formation of an international partner ecosystem of connected and complementary cell and gene therapy service providers. This partner ecosystem as a result now includes a commercial scale, third party manufacturing company,” said Ravi Nalliah, CEO, TrakCel. “The TrakCel partnership with WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies will enable both companies to move towards increased standardization and improved delivery of these innovative treatments to patients around the world.”

“We are pleased to establish a collaborative agreement with TrakCel to support customers that seek to promote streamlining personalized therapies from specimen connections to manufacturing,” added Felix Hsu, Senior Vice President and Global Head of WuXi AppTec Advanced Therapies. “With our leading integrated manufacturing and testing services, we believe we can bring even more speed, reliability and security to an already complex manufacturing and supply chain. We are committed to helping our partners deliver more innovative therapies to patients and the market sooner.”

TrakCel is the market leading designer, developer and deliverer of integrated technologies specifically created in 2012 to manage the international autologous and allogeneic cell, gene and immunotherapy supply chain. TrakCel’s software platform has been developed in collaboration with, and increasingly adopted by leading companies in the cell, gene and immunotherapy industries. TrakCel’s solutions deliver real-time control over the entire therapeutic supply chain, from sample collection through manufacturing to treatment delivery. The TrakCel platform accelerates global scale-up and scale-out of cell and gene therapy products, increasing efficiency and decreasing complexity, while maintaining needle-to-needle compliance and traceability.   TrakCel is headquartered in Cardiff, Wales, UK with US offices in California and New Jersey. For more information, visit https://trakcel.com.

WuXi AppTec provides a broad portfolio of R&D and manufacturing services that enable companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries worldwide to advance discoveries and deliver groundbreaking treatments to patients. As an innovation-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi AppTec helps our partners improve the productivity of advancing healthcare products through cost-effective and efficient solutions. With industry-leading capabilities such as R&D and manufacturing for small molecule drugs, cell and gene therapies, and testing for medical devices, WuXi AppTec’s open-access platform is enabling more than 3,600 collaborators from over 30 countries to improve the health of those in need – and to fulfill our dream that “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.” For more information, visit http://www.wuxiapptec.com.

The advanced therapies business unit of WuXi AppTec is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) that is reducing the complexities of manufacturing by providing integrated platforms that enable cell and gene therapies to be developed, manufactured, and released faster and with greater predictability. For more information, visit  www.advancedtherapies.com.