Cellular Origins & Fresenius Kabi Collaborates To Boost Scalable CGT Automation

Cellular Origins and Fresenius Kabi, a subsidiary of Fresenius, have entered into a development agreement aimed at combining their specialized knowledge in cell and gene therapies (CGTs). This collaboration will focus on seamlessly integrating Fresenius Kabi’s cell therapy processing technologies with Cellular Origins’ robotic CGT manufacturing platform, Constellation™. The partnership aims to support cell therapy developers by enabling scalable production of therapies using their preferred processing tools through both digital and physical integration.

Cellular Origins, part of TTP, is dedicated to advancing the large-scale, affordable, and streamlined production of cell and gene therapies (CGTs) through its Constellation™ automation platform. Meanwhile, Fresenius Kabi, an international leader in healthcare, provides specialized products, innovative technologies, and services aimed at treating and caring for patients with severe and long-term health conditions.

The project is underway, centering on the integration of Fresenius Kabi’s Cue® Cell Processing System to develop a seamless and functional automated system. The goal is for the Cue System to operate autonomously, incorporating robotic handling for consumables, automated connection and disconnection, as well as complete process execution, control, and data management—all facilitated by Constellation’s hardware and digital layers. This strategy aims to enable round-the-clock, large-scale CGT production, optimizing manufacturing space, reducing personnel requirements, and maintaining consistent process integrity.

Fresenius Kabi has crafted its Cell Therapy Technologies portfolio to offer scalable solutions that address key challenges in cell therapy research and manufacturing. To start, the companies are concentrating on integrating the Cue Cell Processing System, chosen for its automated capabilities and precision in small-volume cell processing. Cue’s adaptable design and proven performance across a variety of essential tasks, such as final formulation and media exchange, positioned it as the top choice for integration with Cellular Origins' Constellation platform.

At Cellular Origins, the belief is that scaling cell therapies hinges on strong cross-industry partnerships, prompting them to focus on building and reinforcing alliances with leading tech providers. Constellation is purpose-built to streamline advanced therapy manufacturing with minimal process changes. Through this collaboration, Cellular Origins and Fresenius Kabi will combine their expertise to achieve seamless physical and digital integration of the Cue system into Constellation. This will enhance Constellation's capabilities, allowing end users to achieve more efficient, consistent production by reducing human error and variability through full automation of cell processing.

Following the integration of Cue, the partnership plans to expand its focus to include Fresenius Kabi’s broader cell therapy technologies portfolio, such as the Lovo® Cell Processing System and future innovations currently in the pipeline.

Dr Edwin Stone, CEO at Cellular Origins, stated, “Cellular Origins has developed Constellation to enable fully industrialised manufacture of cell and gene therapies. Forming strong collaborations is essential to ensuring the industry can implement the transformative power of automation whilst using the tools that are best for the biology and, therefore, for patients. Fresenius Kabi is an industry-leading developer of automated technologies to support the production of cell therapies. This is why we are working closely with their team to unlock the power of automation throughout the entire manufacturing process, with the goal of bringing life-saving therapies to patients, faster and more affordably.”

Dr Christian Hauer, President MedTech at Fresenius Kabi, said in a statement, “For Fresenius Kabi, automation is crucial to addressing some of the biggest research and manufacturing challenges in our industry. This is a major reason for our collaboration with Cellular Origins. Our cell therapy technologies are designed with automation at their core, to provide new levels of precision and efficiency. By working closely with the team at Cellular Origins, we hope to advance the CGT industry by helping therapy developers embrace automation during the production process with the goal of ultimately benefiting patients.”