Xcell Biosciences Inc. announced that it has expanded its collaboration with AmplifyBio through the installation of a new AVATAR Foundry system as part of Xcellbio’s beta access program.
The new instrument will enable AmplifyBio’s team to advance from small-scale workflows on the previously installed AVATAR Odyssey platform to achieve automated cell therapy manufacturing workflows suitable for clinical use.
Xcellbio and AmplifyBio have an ongoing collaboration aimed at streamlining and improving the manufacturing process for engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies targeting solid tumors, which have proven difficult to treat with cell therapies due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Through this collaboration, scientists are working to identify key elements for successful manufacture of TCR therapies, such as the relationship between various T cell conditioning matrices and product characteristics such as phenotype, metabolic profile, and potency. Already, experiments have progressed from in vitro to in vivo, and an IND filing is expected next year to target human papillomavirus-positive tumors using a conditioned, engineered TCR therapy.
