In a further step to build its portfolio for the rapidly-growing cell therapy industry, GE Healthcare announced an agreement with STEMCELL Technologies Inc. of Vancouver, Canada to provide T-Cell reagents for commercial-scale cell therapy production.

Under the agreement, GE Healthcare will commercialize cGMP-grade versions of STEMCELL Technologies’ T-Cell reagents for the isolation, activation, and culture of T-cells in clinical applications. These reagents are critical tools in the development and manufacturing of cell and gene therapies intended for administration to patients.

Cindy Collins, GM Cell Therapy, GE Healthcare, said “As cell therapies move to commercialization, the need increases for technologies and industrial capabilities that enable efficient, scalable production of these therapies. The availability of cGMP grade T-Cell reagents significantly expands the complete solution that our customers need to bring cell therapies into widespread clinical practice.”

Allen Eaves, president and CEO of STEMCELL Technologies Inc. said “This partnership with GE will give our customers the confidence of a path to the clinic with a suite of critical cGMP grade T-cell reagents. STEMCELL is a recognized leader in cell culture media and cell separation products and GE can leverage our expertise in T-cell isolation, activation and culture to help the industry evolve and make these promising therapies, such as CAR-T cells and TCR-engineered T cells, a clinical reality.”

The exclusive licensing agreement supports GE’s mission to provide an ecosystem of tools and services to the cell therapy industry, and builds on the recent acquisition of Biosafe Group, which added integrated cell bioprocessing systems to GE’s portfolio of manufacturing tools and technologies.

In 2016, GE has made other significant investments in the rapidly growing cell therapy and regenerative medicine industry, including a US $31.5 million co-investment with the Canadian government to create BridGE@CCRM for the acceleration of cellular technologies. In April, GE Ventures and Mayo Clinic announced they would bring capacity and digital infrastructure to the industry with Vitruvian Networks, Inc., an independent platform company accelerating access to cell and gene therapies through advanced, cloud-ready software systems and manufacturing services.

The following proprietary reagents from STEMCELL Technologies will be qualified as cGMP-grade materials and licensed by GE Healthcare: ImmunoCultTM Human CD3/CD28 T-Cell Activator, ImmunoCultTM Human CD3/CD28/CD2 T-Cell Activator, EasySep Release Human CD3 Positive Selection Kit, ImmunoCultTM–XF T-Cell Expansion Medium.