UniCAR Therapy and Terumo BCT Collaborate to Advance CAR T-Cell Therapies and Create a Shanghai, China Center of Excellence

Shanghai UniCAR-Therapy Bio-Medicine Technology Co. chose Terumo BCT and its cell expansion devices to automate its cell therapy manufacturing process for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. Privately held, UniCAR will open their Center of Excellence for Terumo BCT’s technologies in Shanghai in November.

Terumo BCT is a global leader in blood component, therapeutic apheresis and cellular therapy technologies. The company provides flexible solutions for CAR T-cell developers and manufacturers, including the Quantum Cell Expansion System, in use at UniCAR.

“Compared to the manual method of cell expansion, we save time and increase the quality of cells and viruses we grow using the Quantum system,” says Dr. Yu Lei, a pioneer in the gene therapy field and Chief Executive Officer, UniCAR. “It only makes sense to share best practices and showcase technologies that are driving innovation in our growing industry.”

In 2018, UniCAR submitted four applications for CAR T-cell drug candidates as investigational new drugs (INDs) to China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). UniCAR’s advanced CAR T2.0 technologies are designed to reduce the side effects of treatments and improve patient outcomes.

“The science and development in the cell and gene therapy space are rapidly evolving. Both UniCAR and Terumo BCT are at the forefront of this quickly changing landscape,” says Cindy Ng, Senior Vice President, Global Commercial, Terumo BCT. “Our collaboration has the potential to touch many patients’ lives.”

In addition to automating cell expansion manufacturing with the Quantum system, Terumo BCT continues to deliver high-levels of service to support its customer’s innovations. The Finia Fill and Finish System, one of the company’s latest technology in development, is designed to automate the final step of cell processing which includes cooling, mixing and aliquoting doses of cell therapies. The company’s COBE Spectra Apheresis System and Spectra Optia Apheresis System are extensively used in the industry to collect high-quality white blood cells—the first step in CAR T-cell therapies.