Cellares Announces Expanded Agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb to Include Second CAR-T Program in Cellares’ Technology Adoption Partnership Program

October 11, 2023 at 07:01 AM EDT

Under this expanded agreement, Cellares will provide proof-of-concept manufacturing for a second Bristol Myers Squibb CAR-T cell therapy
The announcement comes weeks after Cellares first indicated that Bristol Myers Squibb had entered the Cellares TAP program to evaluate manufacturing of a cell therapy asset on its automated Cell Shuttle platform
This agreement provides Bristol Myers Squibb an additional opportunity to explore Cellares’ cost-efficient, reliable, and scalable platform for commercial-scale manufacturing

Cellares, the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) dedicated to clinical and industrial-scale cell therapy manufacturing, announced that global biopharmaceutical company and cell therapy leader Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) will enter a second proof-of-concept tech transfer process for the manufacture of a CAR-T cell therapy, as part of the Cellares Technology Adoption Partnership (TAP) program. As part of this expanded agreement, Cellares will optimize, automate, and tech-transfer the additional CAR-T cell therapy process onto its 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 Cell Shuttle as an automated manufacturing process and produce comparability data confirming the Cell Shuttle as a viable, cost-efficient, and scalable manufacturing solution for cell therapies. Cellares is experiencing rapid growth and significant demand for its TAP program, with leading cell therapy developers looking to implement the Cell Shuttle as a clinical and commercial-stage GMP manufacturing solution.

“We’re excited to expand our relationship with Bristol Myers Squibb even further beyond the Series C investment and the first TAP program for cell therapies,” said Cellares CEO Fabian Gerlinghaus. “The optimization and automation of this additional CAR-T cell therapy process through our TAP program expands on our first partnership with BMS and helps our mission to accelerate access to life-saving cell therapies for patients.”

The company’s flexible manufacturing technology supports both autologous and allogeneic cell therapy processes and approximately 90% of cell therapy modalities. Under the TAP program, manual processes can be automated and tech-transferred onto Cellares’ Cell Shuttle platform in only six months. 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 Cell Shuttle in any other IDMO Smart Factory anywhere in the world.

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

About Cellares

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, California with its commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey. 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.