NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Angiocrine Bioscience Inc. today announced a three-year collaboration agreement with Terumo BCT Inc., a global leader in blood component, therapeutic apheresis and cellular technologies, to implement Terumo BCT’s Quantum Cell Expansion System as a manufacturing platform for its E-CEL™ technology and therapeutic candidates. The Quantum system, a state-of-the-art, functionally closed hollow-fiber bioreactor technology, streamlines the cell culture process and furthers the research and development of Angiocrine’s cell therapy products by enhancing process scalability, increasing reproducibility and reducing costs.
“As we advanced our discovery and pre-clinical therapeutic programs, it was critical to identify a key collaborator that would help us streamline our processes and enable manufacturing scale up in a predictable and effective manner. The early adoption of an automated cell expansion platform, the Quantum system, in our research and development activities will accelerate our pace as we work to rapidly advance our therapeutic candidates into the clinic, and we are keen to work with Terumo BCT to leverage their expertise in cell culture automation and scale up,” commented Paul Finnegan, MD, Angiocrine’s CEO.
Cell culture processes can be optimized and configured on the Quantum system manufacturing platform to expand several cell types, including some used in ongoing clinical trials in Europe. Angiocrine believes this helps develop various potential therapeutic indications being addressed by Angiocrine’s E-CEL technology. The combination of protocol flexibility and process control through automation provides a significant advantage over manual flask-based methods and positions the Quantum system ideal for a range of production scenarios from bench top research to commercial manufacturing.
“Angiocrine Bioscience has a novel approach to regenerative medicine with its E-CEL technology and we are excited about working with them to achieve clinical scale production,” added Dave Flaten, Vice President, Cell Processing, Terumo BCT.
About Angiocrine Bioscience Inc.
Angiocrine Bioscience is a world-leader in genetically-modified endothelial cell-based technology (the E-CEL™ Technology) which has multiple applications in regenerative medicine. Angiocrine’s approach is unique and based on over twenty years of research in vascular and regenerative biology. We aim to transform the standards of medical practice through our rationally designed, inspired by nature, therapeutic platforms designed to drive resident stem cell renewal in a variety of disease settings. Angiocrine’s core technology is licensed from Weill Cornell Medical College and was invented and developed by Professor Shahin Rafii, MD. His work related to Angiocrine technology has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Cell and Blood.
About Terumo BCT
Terumo BCT is a global leader in blood component, therapeutic apheresis and cellular technologies, is the only company with the unique combination of apheresis collections, manual and automated whole blood processing, and pathogen reduction. We believe in the potential of blood to do even more for patients than it does today. This belief inspires our innovation and strengthens our collaboration with customers.
