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 organizations (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, says GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.

The role of automation partnerships in cell and gene therapy manufacturing is explored in the latest edition of GlobalData’s monthly Bio/Pharmaceutical Outsourcing report. The report highlights how developers and CDMOs are working with specialist technology providers to improve manufacturing scalability and reduce reliance on manual processes.

Cellares partnered with TScan Therapeutics in June to evaluate automated clinical manufacturing for TSC-101, an investigational T-cell therapy for acute myeloid leukemia 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.

The two agreements point to growing confidence in Cellares’s 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.

Edita Hamzic, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Cell and gene therapy manufacturers are looking to specialist automation partners to help overcome the challenges associated with scaling these complex therapies. While automation has long been discussed as a solution for improving efficiency, recent partnerships show that companies are now integrating robotics, digital systems, and AI into existing manufacturing workflows to support both clinical and commercial production.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine and its CDMO subsidiary, OmniaBio, have partnered with Avectas to evaluate the Dublin, 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 centralized production, the hub-and-spoke model distributes manufacturing across regional facilities, allowing therapies to be produced closer to patients while maintaining standardized processes. The collaboration highlights how automation is being viewed to enable new manufacturing models, rather than simply improving production efficiency.

At the same time, the 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 this 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.

Hamzic concludes: “Overall, these partnerships suggest that automation is becoming a practical priority for the cell and gene therapy industry. Rather than replacing established manufacturing processes, companies are integrating automation, robotics, and AI into current workflows to create more flexible and reliable manufacturing models while preparing for larger clinical and commercial production needs.”