Cellular Origins, a cell and gene therapy manufacturing specialist, has acquired the ACTIA (autologous cell therapy industrial automation) platform IP.
The platform was developed by Geoff Hodge in his stint as CEO of Sotio Biotech US.
ACTIA will be used by Cellular Origins to accelerate and expand research and development efforts using its proprietary automated cell therapy manufacturing robot, Constellation.
The Constellation platform
Constellation, which was launched in May 2023, combines automation robotics with aseptic fluid handling.
The ACTIA platform allows for industrial automation, allowing users to increase capacity to target process bottlenecks.
The acquisition of the ACTIA IP platform follows Cellular Origin’s recent partnership with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, with both initiatives designed to develop novel and optimised cell therapy manufacturing strategies.
Former CEO of SOTIO Biotech US and Scientific Advisor, Cellular Origins, Geoffrey Hodge, commented: “The approach of stringing together sequential unit ops, as we did to manufacture recombinant proteins, does not meet the unique needs of autologous cell therapy. Constellation has already demonstrated its capabilities to transform manufacturing of cell therapies, offering an easily accessible route to cost- and space-efficient, large-scale production. ACTIA further augments Constellation, and the ambition to revolutionise cell therapy manufacturing and deliver life-saving therapies to more patients than ever before.”
[Photo credit: Cellular Origins]