Germany’s Merck KGaA said it has acquired FloDesign Sonics, Wilbraham, Massachusetts, USA-based developer of a unique acoustic cell processing platform for the industrialization of cell and gene therapy manufacturing.
Financial terms of the deal, with which the chemicals and pharmaceuticals group will gain access to what it calls a “revolutionary cancer treatment,” were not disclosed. The technology leverages chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies, or CAR-T, which employ the body’s own immune systems to fight cancer by turning T cells into targeted therapeutics.
Merck said FloDesign Sonics is a good strategic fit, strengthening its own ability alongside pharmaceutical manufacturers to advance cell-based therapies to patients. This constitutes the next step in autologous (patient-centered manufacturing, it added.
“This revolutionary cancer treatment is challenging and complex, with the process often taking up to a month,” said Udit Batra, member of the Merck executive board and CEO, Life Science. With the acquisition, he said, “we will industrialize the manufacturing of autologous cell therapy, allowing these types of potentially life-saving treatments to reach more patients, faster.”
FloDesign Sonics’ acoustic cell processing platform utilizes a disruptive technology that allows for the manipulation of cells with ultrasonic waves, allowing enhanced cell washing and concentration for manufacturing cell therapies. Merck said it will become the first to make acoustic technology available for cell therapy manufacturing.
