Cellares, an integrated development and manufacturing organization (IDMO) dedicated to clinical and industrial-scale cell therapy manufacturing, and Bristol Myers Squibb 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.

According to the company, 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. BMS 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.

The 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 six months. Participating cell therapy developers can tech-transfer their cell therapy processes onto a Cell Shuttle at any stage and every tech transfer thereafter is instantaneous to any Cell Shuttle in any other IDMO Smart Factory anywhere in the world.

“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.”