Cellular Origins and Thermo Fisher Launch Robotic CGT Manufacturing Platform

• Cellular Origins has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific to deliver robotic, industrial-scale production of cell and gene therapies (CGTs).

• The collaboration aims to reduce CGT manufacturing costs by over 51% and labour requirements 16-fold through automation.

Cellular Origins, a TTP Company specialising in scalable manufacturing of cell and gene therapies (CGTs), has announced a new collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific. The partnership aims to deliver continuous, robotic CGT production to meet the sector’s growing demand for late-stage trials and commercial supply.

The initiative will integrate Thermo Fisher’s cell processing technology with Cellular Origins’ Constellation robotic platform to create a fully automated manufacturing solution. The system is designed to maximise output per square metre while minimising labour, within a digitally integrated framework.

The first integration milestone has been completed, with Cellular Origins adapting Thermo Scientific™ Heracell™ VIOS™ AxD CO2 incubator technology into the Constellation platform. Software integration has also been finalised. A complete installation is now operational at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult’s Digital and Automation Testbeds in Stevenage, UK, where validation is underway.

The Constellation platform offers modularity and increased unit operation density, particularly enhancing high-throughput cell culture. According to Cellular Origins, this advancement can improve manufacturing space utilisation by more than 51% and reduce labour needs 16-fold, significantly cutting the cost of CGT production.

“Cellular Origins can now greatly exceed the efficiency of manufacturing space utilisation and so production outputs per square metre of any system currently used to produce cell therapies whilst allowing for manufacturing in a low-grade background (Grade C/D),” said Edwin Stone, CEO of Cellular Origins.

“As CGT approvals increase, the sector urgently needs scalable, automated manufacturing,” said Douglas Wernerspach, Sr. Business Director at Thermo Fisher Scientific. “Our CO₂ incubators are built for this purpose, and this collaboration delivers a full industrialised solution for the sector.”