Cellares Expands Agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb for Second CAR-T Program

On Oct. 11, 2023, Cellares, an integrated development and manufacturing organization (IDMO) specializing in cell therapy manufacturing, announced it has expanded its agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to include a second chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) program as part of the Cellares Technology Adoption Partnership (TAP) program.

Under the expanded agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will begin a second proof-of-concept tech transfer process for the manufacture of its CAR-T cell therapy, and Cellares will optimize, automate, and tech-transfer the additional CAR-T cell therapy process onto its automated manufacturing platform (Cell Shuttle).

Cellares’ manufacturing technology supports both autologous and allogeneic cell therapy processes and approximately 90% of cell therapy modalities, according to a company press release. Meanwhile, the company’s TAP program is a fast and low-risk means by which cell therapy developers can adopt Cellares’ automated manufacturing technology for products in their pipeline.

With the TAP program, manual processes can be automated and tech-transferred onto Cellares’ Cell Shuttle platform in six months, and the transfer can happen at any stage of the therapy’s development—whether it is in pre-clinical development, clinical development, or after regulatory approval.

The initial partnership between Bristol Myers Squibb and Cellares began in August 2023, which is also when Cellares launched its commercial-scale IDMO smart factory in Bridgewater, NJ, the first of its kind. The 118,000-ft² factory was built to integrate advanced robotics, purpose-built technology, and interconnected software and will be capable of producing 40,000 cell therapy batches per year.

“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, in the press release. “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.”

Source: Cellares