Xcellbio Announces Partnership with Planet Innovation to Develop and Manufacture Next Generation Instruments to Improve potency for Rapid Cell Therapy Manufacturing

First commercial clinical use will be at the Royal Perth Hospital for cutting-edge TIL therapies

MELBOURNE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xcell Biosciences Australia Pty Ltd (Xcellbio), an Australian affiliate of the San Francisco-based instrumentation company focused on cell and gene therapy applications, has announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Royal Perth Hospital to use its AVATAR™ Foundry platform in a clinical trial focused on rapid manufacturing of more potent cancer-killing cell therapies.

Planet Innovation, an Australian headquartered medtech innovation company, is Xcellbio’s contract development and manufacturing partner. The company has worked with Xcellbio during the past 2 years to develop the AVATAR Foundry instrument from its innovation headquarters in Melbourne. Planet Innovation will support Xcellbio with additional on-the-ground technical support for the platform during the trial.

Cell therapies have shown remarkable potential for treating cancer. Since the first bone marrow transplant in the 1950s, the concept of taking human immune cells and using their power to cure cancer has been a goal of modern medicine. The first solid tumor-targeting immune cell therapies generated from tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were approved for commercial use in 2024. However, the workflows associated with TIL therapies are largely manual and time intensive. TIL therapies also face challenges in retaining their cancer-killing potency within a solid tumor environment. The AVATAR Foundry was built to address these issues in the fight against cancer.

Solid tumors make up about 90% of all cancers; however, traditional cell therapies are not effective in targeting them due to the harsh nature of the tumor microenvironment (TME). The AVATAR Foundry provides a type of bootcamp for immune cells, enabling metabolic priming during the manufacturing process to achieve not only higher cancer-killing efficiency in TME conditions, but also longer persistence inside the tumor.

“Our long-term partnership with Planet Innovation and this new agreement with the fantastic team at Royal Perth Hospital provide an opportunity to expand the availability of these life-saving therapies to patients,” said Brian Feth, co-founder and CEO at Xcellbio. “We are excited by the prospect of improving cell therapy manufacturing and making these important treatments a more feasible option for patients in Australia and, ultimately, around the world.”

“Xcellbio is challenging the status quo and exploring new frontiers for treating solid-tumor cancers that affect millions of patients globally. Planet Innovation is proud to stand alongside them and help bring their vision to life through our talent and technical facilities,” said Stuart Elliott, co-founder and CEO at Planet Innovation.

Process development and clinical manufacturing at Royal Perth Hospital are due to commence in mid-2025 and run through the next few years, with instruments manufactured and shipped directly from Planet Innovation’s facilities.

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 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 Melbourne and San Francisco, Xcellbio can also be found online at www.xcellbio.com.
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