Cesca Therapeutics Inc., a provider of automated cell processing and autologous cell therapies for regenerative medicine, and ThermoGenesis, its device subsidiary, has entered into a joint venture with HealthBanks Biotech (USA) Inc., a leading stem cell bank network, to commercialize its cell processing platform, CAR-TXpress, for use in immune cell banking and cell-based contract development and manufacturing services. The joint venture will be named ImmuneCyte Life Sciences Inc. and is expected to launch during 4Q19.

Under the agreement, HealthBanks Biotech will own 80% of ImmuneCyte and Cesca will own 20%. Cesca will contribute exclusive rights to use ThermoGenesis’ cell processing technology for the immune cell banking business and non-exclusive rights for other cell-based contract development and manufacturing services. Cesca will also contribute its clinical development assets to the joint venture. 

Once operational, ImmuneCyte will be among the first immune cell banks in the U.S. to provide clients with the opportunity to bank their own healthy immune cells for future use as a resource for cell-based immunotherapies, such as dendritic cell and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. ImmuneCyte will utilize ThermoGenesis’ CAR-TXpress platform, which can increase cell processing efficiency by up to 16-fold as compared with the traditional ficoll gradient centrifugation-based cell processing method, according to the company. ImmuneCyte intends to offer customers  a competitive advantage, including an ability to store their own immune cells at a lower cost. 

“The ImmuneCyte joint venture will be paramount to the execution of our strategy to become a preferred cell processing and manufacturing solution provider in the cell and gene therapy field,” said Dr. Chris Xu, chairman and chief executive officer of Cesca Therapeutics. “CAR-T therapeutic research is advancing rapidly. Partnering with HealthBanks Biotech, one of the foremost stem cell bank networks, with an experienced team and an established global infrastructure, will offer customers the ability to preserve younger, healthier and uncontaminated immune cells for potential future use. By applying our proprietary CAR-TXpress technology to immune cell banking and other CDMO cellular manufacturing services, we will allow for the manufacture and production of more effective and less costly immunotherapies.”