Cell and gene therapy manufacturers are partnering with specialist technology companies to address the challenges associated with scaling complex therapies. Recent collaborations between developers, contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs), and automation companies demonstrate how robotics, digital systems, and advanced manufacturing platforms are being integrated into production workflows to support more scalable and efficient manufacturing.
In June, Cellares partnered with TScan Therapeutics to evaluate automated clinical manufacturing for TSC-101, an investigational T-cell therapy for acute myeloid leukaemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. The companies will use Cellares’s Cell Shuttle manufacturing platform together with its Cell Q quality control system to develop a closed, scalable manufacturing process ahead of TScan’s planned pivotal trial. The partnership builds on Cellares’ earlier collaboration with Autolus Therapeutics, announced in January, to evaluate the Cell Shuttle platform at Autolus’s Nucleus manufacturing facility in the UK.
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The two agreements point to growing confidence in Cellares’ technology, as developers look to automated manufacturing to support late-stage clinical development. That confidence was likely reinforced by the FDA’s advanced manufacturing technology designation for the Cell Shuttle platform in 2025, which is intended to accelerate the adoption of innovative manufacturing technologies through more frequent regulatory interaction.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine and its CDMO subsidiary, OmniaBio, have partnered with Avectas to evaluate the Ireland-based company’s automated, integrated cell therapy manufacturing platform. The aim is to determine whether the technology can fit into the Centre’s global hub-and-spoke manufacturing network. Unlike traditional centralised production, the hub-and-spoke model distributes manufacturing across regional facilities, allowing therapies to be produced closer to patients while maintaining standardised processes. The collaboration highlights how automation is being viewed to enable new manufacturing models, rather than simply improving production efficiency.
At the same time, other recent partnerships point to another emerging trend: companies are combining specialist automation technologies with existing manufacturing platforms instead of developing entirely new systems. Earlier in the year, Fresenius Kabi and Cellular Origins combined established cell processing technologies with a robotic manufacturing platform to develop a more scalable solution for both clinical and commercial production. Similarly, Made Scientific and Streamline Bio launched an AI-powered robotic manufacturing platform designed to automate additional manufacturing steps, improve process analytics, and expand the use of AI capabilities in cell therapy production.
Overall, these partnerships – which are tracked in GlobalData’s monthly Bio/Pharma Outsourcing Reports – suggest that automation is becoming a practical priority for the cell and gene therapy industry. Developers and CDMOs are turning to specialist technology providers to reduce reliance on manual processes, improve manufacturing scalability, and prepare for larger clinical and commercial production needs. Rather than replacing existing systems, companies are integrating automation, robotics, and AI into current workflows to create more flexible and reliable manufacturing models.
