Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Arsenal Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage cell therapy company engineering advanced chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies for solid tumors, have updated their strategic collaboration to further the development of manufacturing processes for new cancer treatments.

The research and process development-focused collaboration has enabled ArsenalBio to develop a robust manufacturing process for their next-generation, programmable autologous T cells for the treatment of cancer.

ArsenalBio recently advanced its lead product candidate into clinical manufacturing of its autologous integrated circuit T cell (ICT) therapy for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. ArsenalBio’s work to develop multi-functional CAR-T cell therapies is enabled by Thermo Fisher’s Cell Therapy Systems (CTS) portfolio of products, including the Gibco CTS Xenon Electroporation System and the Gibco CTS Rotea Counterflow Centrifugation System.

“Our programmable cell therapy technology holds the potential to help patients with aggressive and complex cancers who currently have few treatment options,” said Ken Drazan, co-founder and CEO, ArsenalBio. “To bring the promise of this technology to patients we’ll need to execute at speed and scale as we transition to clinical development. Our relationship with Thermo Fisher allows us to combine their fit-for-purpose solutions and internal expertise with our team’s innovative approach to clinical research and process development capabilities to manufacture ArsenalBio’s products and explore future therapeutic innovation.”

Thermo Fisher began its collaboration with ArsenalBio in 2020 to help ArsenalBio overcome challenges associated with cell therapy manufacturing by working together to support development of a clinical-scale gene editing process. ArsenalBio received early access to Thermo Fisher’s latest instrumentation and reagents.

“By collaborating with ArsenalBio as they pioneer a new approach to treat solid tumors using engineered T cell therapies, we’re helping bring more options to those who are most in need of innovative treatments,” said Betty Woo, vice president of cell, gene and advanced therapies, Thermo Fisher. “Through our cell therapy collaboration program, we are enabling the industry shift from reactive to proactive, applying our biological and technical expertise to improve the economics of therapy production, and moving toward expanded access to patients worldwide.”

Thermo Fisher’s CTS portfolio of products are cGMP manufactured, designed to meet applicable cell therapy standards, and include traceability and regulatory documentation to help customers transition from research to clinical production.