Industry News: Cytiva and Multiply Labs collaborate to automate cell therapy manufacturing

Cytiva, a global life sciences leader, and Multiply Labs, a leader in developing robotic systems for pharmaceutical manufacturing, are collaborating to develop a robotic manufacturing system that will automate the manual portions of the cell therapy manufacturing workflow. Creating a fully automated system that can operate at an industrial scale will enable the speed and flexibility that is needed to manufacture these next generation therapeutics.

With cell therapies being approved by regulatory bodies in the United States, the European Union, Canada, Japan and Australia, and hundreds more in clinical development globally, there is an immediate need to industrialize and automate the workflow. Combining Cytiva’s industry knowledge and technology with Multiply Labs’ automation and robotics expertise, the companies will develop a proof-of-concept robotic system that will accelerate the manufacture of cell therapies on an industrial scale.

Catarina Flyborg, Vice President, Cytiva, says: “Cell therapies have the potential to transform global healthcare, but their true potential will not be realized until the manufacturing workflow is fully automated. Our collaboration with Multiply Labs will enable us to develop a system that will advance and accelerate the commercial manufacturing of these novel therapeutics to help get them to the patients who need them most.”

Multiply Labs’ technical approach is based on a first-of-its-kind robotic cluster, a cloud-controlled manufacturing system that consists of multiple modules organized around a shared transfer system. This approach enables greater output, increased safety, more reproducibility, greater flexibility and easier GMP qualification for drug developers. Multiply Labs has successfully deployed a fully automated robotic cluster for the manufacture of personalized therapies made with combinations of small molecules.

Fred Parietti, co-founder and CEO, Multiply Labs, says: “Advanced robotics has been successfully applied to numerous high-value, high-scale manufacturing processes, from automotives to semiconductors. Combining Cytiva’s process expertise and market-leading technology with our robotics hardware and software expertise has the potential to radically accelerate the development and adoption of these life-saving drugs.”

There were 440 ongoing cell-based and cell therapy clinical trials worldwide in 2020 creating an immediate need to develop an industrialized manufacturing system that can support potential regulatory approvals and the commercialization of these novel therapeutics.

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