Lonza and Octane enter collaboration to evaluate autologous cell therapy technology
Octane Cocoon could enable automated manufacturing of personalised cell therapies
Lonza Group in Switzerland and Canadian company Octane Biotech have agreed to enter into an exclusive technology evaluation of the Octane Cocoon cell production platform for personalised cell therapy manufacturing.
The Octane Cocoon has the potential to enable the automated manufacturing of patient-specific cell therapies for maximum efficiency, traceability and scale-up.
Under the terms of the agreement, Lonza will evaluate the Octane Cocoon technology for autologous cell therapy products.
'Octane provides an essential piece of innovation in a medical area that will ultimately only be successful if we address questions around quality standards, cost of goods, development timelines and logistics,' said Uwe Gottschalk, Chief Technology Officer of Lonza Pharma&Biotech. 'With the Octane Cocoon platform, breakthrough therapies such as cancer immunotherapy may be translated into a new manufacturing paradigm, and Lonza is pleased to have access to this potentially game-changing technology. This collaboration for the patient-scale manufacturing complements our efforts to establish allogeneic production standards based on bioreactor processes, and it underlines Lonza's technology leadership in cell and gene therapy manufacturing.'
Tim Smith, CEO of Octane, added: 'Our design and production teams invented the Octane Cocoon platform with multiple first-to-market, clinically oriented features to ensure successful deployment across centralised and decentralised facilities. Projected growth in autologous cell therapy products requires a new and sustainable manufacturing outlook, and Lonza is an ideal partner to commercialise these innovations for international markets.'
