ST. PAUL, Minn. & LAKE ZURICH, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ScaleReady, a joint venture between Bio-Techne (NASDAQ: TECH), Fresenius Kabi, and Wilson Wolf, launches today. The new company brings together proven tools and technologies for cell culture, cell activation, gene editing, and cell processing from its founding partners.
ScaleReady provides leading therapeutic developers with the most simple, scalable, and versatile manufacturing platform in the industry, enhancing the prospects of success for cell and gene therapy organizations. The new company will accelerate innovation in cell and gene therapy manufacturing, building on the R&D pipelines of its founding partners and through global technology partnerships with industry and academic leaders.
“ScaleReady’s mission is to accelerate the groundbreaking advances in cell and gene therapy by satisfying the longstanding need for a truly scalable, cost-effective and practical manufacturing platform,” said Adam Bryan, General Manager of ScaleReady. “It’s exciting to see the commitment that our industry-leading partners have made to this mission. Their dedication to combine resources, expertise and decades of experience, position us to make a meaningful contribution to this industry now and in the future through rapid advancement of platform technologies that lead the industry to greater efficiency, practicality and simplicity.”
Through this partnership, ScaleReady provides sales, marketing, and application support for tools and technologies used in cell and gene therapy manufacturing worldwide. Wilson Wolf’s G-Rex® cell culture technology, Fresenius Kabi’s Lovo and upcoming Cue cell processing systems, and Bio-Techne’s range of GMP proteins, reagents, media, and gene editing technologies, are all part of the ScaleReady manufacturing platform.
“With this venture, Wilson Wolf is adding tremendous wherewithal in our quest to provide the field of cell and gene therapy with a disruptive manufacturing platform that cost-effectively accelerates the delivery of potential life-saving therapies to a wide segment of society,” said John Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Wilson Wolf. “Our G-Rex technology is uniquely positioned to address the scale limitation issues facing the industry. Our partners at Bio-Techne and Fresenius Kabi share our common purpose and bring complementary technologies that will accelerate our work.”
With cell and gene therapies showing great potential for a wide range of diseases, the need for reliable and consistent raw material supply has never been more important. “At Bio-Techne, we recently opened a new large-scale GMP reagent facility, increasing manufacturing capacity for animal-free raw materials, including E. coli-derived recombinant proteins, to ensure sustainable supply for future needs,” said David Eansor, President Protein Sciences Segment, at Bio-Techne.
Dean Gregory, President Global Commercial Operations, Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapies at Fresenius Kabi added, “Cell therapies hold promise for patients and are a major area of focus for Fresenius Kabi. Through the partnership represented by ScaleReady, we will be able to make a greater contribution to this field at an accelerated pace. We are thrilled to share our expertise in automated cell processing and closed-system development to this important collaboration.”
ScaleReady is owned equally by the three partners – Bio-Techne, Fresenius Kabi, and Wilson Wolf. Separately, the three companies do business globally and have combined revenues of more than $7 billion. No other financial terms were disclosed at this time.
About ScaleReady
ScaleReady is bringing the future of cell and gene therapies to life with the most powerful and versatile manufacturing platform in the industry. ScaleReady delivers rapid expansion of T-cells at scale—reducing complexity and cost, while providing superior repeatability and cell quality. Founded in 2020, ScaleReady is a joint venture between Bio-Techne, Fresenius Kabi and Wilson Wolf that brings together tools and technologies for cell culture, cell activation, gene editing and cell processing from each founding partner. Learn more at www.scaleready.com.
About Bio-Techne
Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $739 million in net sales in fiscal 2020 and has over 2,300 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit www.bio-techne.com.
About Fresenius Kabi
Fresenius Kabi (www.fresenius-kabi.com/us) is a global health care company that specializes in medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition. The company’s products and services are used to help care for critically and chronically ill patients. The company’s U.S. headquarters is in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The company’s global headquarters is in Bad Homburg, Germany. Fresenius Kabi is part of Fresenius SE(ETR: FRE), a global health care group with more than 305,000 employees in more than 100 countries, and annual sales exceeding $30 billion.
About Wilson Wolf
Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Wilson Wolf (www.wilsonwolf.com) was founded in 1998 to pioneer the development of innovative cell culture technologies and has created patented products and protocols for numerous applications including monoclonal antibody production, corneal transplants, porcine heart valve testing, mesenchymal cell production, and islet transplants for type 1 diabetes. Over the last 5 years, its G-Rex product line has experienced an average annual sales growth rate of nearly 100%.
