Xcell Biosciences Strengthens Cell and Gene Therapy Collaboration With Labcorp
April 01 2024 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Longstanding partnership deepens with new
financing, beta access to clinical manufacturing instruments, and
AACR data presentations
Xcell Biosciences Inc. (Xcellbio), an instrumentation company
focused on cell and gene therapy applications, today announced it
has added new elements to its research collaboration agreement with
Labcorp, a global leader of innovative and comprehensive laboratory
services. Through the expanded collaboration, Labcorp will
participate in the beta program for Xcellbio’s clinical
manufacturing line of AVATAR™ instruments and has been given an
observer seat on the company’s board of directors. In exchange,
Labcorp has increased its strategic investment in Xcellbio.
Financial details of the investment were not disclosed. The
companies will be jointly presenting results from their existing
cell and gene therapy collaboration at the upcoming annual meeting
of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
Xcellbio has developed the AVATAR incubator system for cell
therapy research and development. Its latest platform, the AVATAR
Foundry system, is a cGMP cell therapy manufacturing platform that
delivers novel capabilities for improving the potency of cell
therapies. These capabilities are especially important for cell
therapies targeting solid tumors, which are frequently met with
challenges in overcoming the harsh immunosuppressive tumor
microenvironment (TME) to achieve durable potency at the target
tumor site. The AVATAR and AVATAR Foundry systems offer small-scale
research and process development as well as scale-up manufacturing
platforms for metabolically reprogramming therapeutic cells to
improve their potency and persistence in the TME.
“We have worked closely with the Xcellbio team for years and
have been continually impressed by their dedication to improving
the development and manufacture of cell and gene therapies,” said
Maryland Franklin, Ph.D., vice president and enterprise head of
cell and gene therapy at Labcorp, who has now joined Xcellbio’s
board of directors as an observer. “Incorporating AVATAR technology
into Labcorp’s robust cell and gene therapy development program
will allow us to deliver decision-enabling results to our clients
around the world and, ultimately, will help us drive precision
healthcare for a broad range of patients.”
Through the expanded collaboration, Labcorp’s preclinical
oncology site in Ann Arbor, Mich., will become a beta site for the
AVATAR Foundry system. More information about the beta access
program is available at https://www.xcellbio.com/gmp.
“We are proud to be a trusted partner for Labcorp, who
recognizes that key partnerships will help unlock what’s possible
in the development of cell and gene therapies,” said Brian Feth,
co-founder and CEO at Xcellbio. “We look forward to deepening our
ties as we continue on our shared mission of developing safer, more
effective treatments for more patients and a wide array of
diseases.”
Poster Presentations at AACR
Along with scientific collaborators at Labcorp, Xcell team
members will be presenting two posters at the upcoming AACR annual
meeting, taking place April 5-10 in San Diego.
Poster #3908: Generation of new oncology cell models through
long-term acclimation under hypoxic and hyperbaric culture
conditions Presenter: Yewei Xing, Labcorp Summary: In this poster,
scientists will show that long-term acclimation of conventional
tumor cell lines to conditions reflective of the TME alters their
phenotype and gene expression profiles.
Poster #6334: Metabolic reprogramming enhances expansion and
potency of CAR-T cells Presenter: Candy Garcia and James Lim,
Xcellbio Summary: This presentation will illustrate how
manufacturing CD19 CAR T cells in optimized environmental
conditions can enhance their expansion potential and potency, as
measured with an in vitro tumor killing assay.
About Xcell Biosciences
Xcellbio is driven by its mission to enhance the performance and
safety of cell and gene-based therapies through the design and
development of revolutionary technology platforms. The company’s
commercial instruments and AI-driven software allow researchers to
discover novel insights into immune and tumor biology and enable
the translation of these insights at patient scale through the
development of its pioneering cGMP cell therapy manufacturing
platform. Based in San Francisco, Xcellbio can also be found online
at www.xcellbio.com.
About Labcorp
Labcorp (NYSE: LH) is a global leader of innovative and
comprehensive laboratory services that helps doctors, hospitals,
pharmaceutical companies, researchers and patients make clear and
confident decisions. We provide insights and advance science to
improve health and improve lives through our unparalleled
diagnostics and drug development laboratory capabilities. The
company's more than 67,000 employees serve clients in over 100
countries, worked on over 84% of the new drugs approved by the FDA
in 2023 and performed more than 600 million tests for patients
around the world. Learn more about us at www.labcorp.com.
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Media For Xcellbio Suzanne Howard
suzanne@bioscribe.com
For Labcorp Kimbrel Arculeo media@labcorp.com
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