Cytiva and Bayer to collaborate on allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing platform
July 12, 2022
- Collaboration pairs Cytiva’s leadership in supplying end-to-end manufacturing solutions with Bayer’s strong expertise in technology and process development for complex therapeutics
- Action demonstrates Cytiva and Bayer’s commitment to advancing and accelerating the development of cell and gene therapies and expanding their accessibility for patients
Cytiva and Bayer are teaming up to develop the first modular end-to-end manufacturing platform for allogeneic cell therapies. The companies have already kicked off the multi-year development agreement and are ramping up activities to deliver manufacturing solutions to meet the global industry’s growing demand as cell therapies advance from the laboratory to the clinic.
Jens Vogel, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Biotech, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Product Supply, says: “Through our collaboration with Cytiva, we plan to realize a uniquely flexible, modular, cell therapy manufacturing platform capable to rapidly ‘industrialize’ a broad range of cell therapies, thereby creating efficiency, standardization and economies of scale.“
“Collaborations are key to advancing and accelerating the development of novel therapeutics and ultimately helping improve patients' lives,” said Catarina Flyborg, Vice President, Cell and Gene Therapy, Cytiva. “Cytiva has a strong history as a leader in therapeutic manufacturing technologies and our collaboration with Bayer and their deep expertise in cell therapy development will enable us to create a new generation of manufacturing solutions specifically designed to meet the developing needs of allogeneic cell therapy.”
Cytiva and Bayer share the same conceptual vision for an automated and modular allogenic cell therapy manufacturing platform. Both companies believe this work will help establish new industry standards for manufacturing. Success of the Bayer-Cytiva collaboration rests with the companies’ plans to design innovative equipment and automation solutions with allogenic cell therapy in mind from the start. They plan to develop equipment and software concurrently with a focus on manufacturing speed, flexibility and a robust “plug and play” operating environment. The end goal is rapid speed to market and cost-efficient use of manufacturing infrastructure through modular design of equipment and processes.
Both parties will provide personnel, resources, and facilities to work on the joint development program. Bayer’s road map for allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing technology will be leveraged, and its development product portfolio will be among the product candidates used to support proof of concept testing of the technologies. Cytiva will utilize its equipment and consumable manufacturing expertise and technology roadmap to design the new platforms, and when complete, will make them commercially available.