Asimov Unveils Stable AAV Manufacturing Platform

Synthetic biology firm Asimov has introduced a new manufacturing platform aimed at improving the scalability and consistency of adeno-associated virus (AAV) production for gene therapies. The company’s AAV Edge Stable Producer System is designed to overcome limitations associated with transient transfection-based methods, which remain the industry standard despite cost and quality concerns.

Asimov’s system integrates all essential viral genes into the genome of HEK293 cells, creating high-titer, clonal producer cell lines. This stable approach eliminates the need for plasmid transfection, simplifies bioreactor scale-up, and reduces batch-to-batch variability. According to the company, the platform can deliver titers up to 6E15 vector genomes per liter prior to purification.

“It’s no secret that the gene therapy field has gone through several painful years recently, but the fact is that gene therapy remains our best shot at treating many of the world’s most intractable diseases,” said Alec Nielsen, co-founder and CEO of Asimov. “We firmly believe in the potential of this modality and stand alongside the patients and scientific pioneers who continue to push the field forward. Together, we’re pulling every lever available to improve scalability, safety, efficacy, quality, and cost. Stable producer cell lines are one of the technologies needed to unlock the next generation of gene therapies.”

The AAV Edge system delivers research cell banks within 20 weeks, containing the desired capsid and transgene. The resulting HEK293 cell lines are suspension-adapted and fully stable, enabling reliable large-scale production.

The launch expands Asimov’s portfolio in cell and gene therapy, which already includes stable producer systems for lentiviral vectors. The new platform also complements the company’s AAV payload design tools, including tissue-specific promoters and expression optimization technologies.