Torque, an immuno-oncology company, has introduced a high-efficiency T cell manufacturing process, called Slipstream. The Slipstream process is now in place at UC Davis for manufacturing Deep-Primed T-Cells for Torque’s first clinical trial planned for later this year in both solid and hematologic cancers.

“Torque’s cell manufacturing strategy is a critical aspect of our mission to dramatically expand cell therapy cures for cancer,” said Bart Henderson, chief executive officer of Torque. “The Slipstream manufacturing process is based on a robust, closed system that surpasses conventional cell therapy manufacturing techniques used for currently marketed T cell therapy products—Slipstream is readily scalable, requires a substantially smaller manufacturing footprint, and is less capital- and labor-intensive. We are pleased to announce this innovative system and our collaboration to build out Slipstream with the UC Davis team led by Gerhard Bauer—one of the country’s premier experts on the management and development of GMP cell manufacturing facilities— to bring a new class of immune cell therapy to patients with cancer.”

Slipstream is designed to operate as modular “compact factories” that can be used in both large-scale and decentralized manufacturing settings, with the potential to move cell manufacturing closer to the point of care. Production capacity can be expanded by adding additional arrays in Lego-like fashion.

“Slipstream is a productivity revolution in the immune cell therapy space,” said Dr. Bauer. “This is a streamlined, fully closed, T cell manufacturing system—a groundbreaking innovation in that there are no open transfers between steps, which eliminates contamination risk and dramatically reduces the facility footprint required for commercial-quality manufacturing. Slipstream’s modular design means it can be expanded to create a network of cell manufacturing mini-factories at whatever scale is needed, whether in a regional facility at point-of-care, or at a centralized production facility. Improving efficiency and reducing the cost of manufacturing these personalized therapies in this way is how the industry will move forward and develop treatments that are broadly accessible and affordable.”