Ori Biotech launches partner network to advance cell and gene therapy manufacturing
Ori Biotech has launched its Preferred Partner Network (PPN) to support the commercialization of cell and gene therapies.
The network brings together academic medical centers and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) to integrate the company’s IRO manufacturing platform. Founding members in the U.S. include Charles River Laboratories, CTMC, ElevateBio, and Kincell, with additional partners expected to be announced.
PPN members will serve as Centers of Excellence for the IRO platform, which is designed to streamline cell therapy manufacturing by increasing throughput, reducing costs, and shortening development timelines.
Ori Biotech CEO Jason Foster said in a statement that the network provides therapy developers with flexibility in selecting both technology and service providers, while avoiding constraints imposed by end-to-end solution providers.
Participating organizations will have priority access to Ori Biotech’s manufacturing innovations and newly announced technology partnerships, such as its recent collaboration with Fresenius Kabi. These efforts aim to address industry challenges in scaling cell and gene therapies by integrating automated and closed-system solutions.
Ori Biotech’s PPN launch marks a strategic move to support the growing cell therapy sector by expanding access to advanced manufacturing tools. The company will continue to expand its network of partners in the U.S. and internationally to accelerate clinical and commercial adoption of its technology.
By automating and digitizing critical processes, Ori’s IRO platform is designed to streamline manufacturing workflows to overcome bottlenecks that currently limit patient access. At the same time, IRO supports both research and development and GMP manufacturing on the same system, offering a seamless transition between the two.
“When you try and take a lab-scale process and turn it into a GMP commercial-scale process, it doesn’t work and you get a very expensive, highly variable, low-throughput process that ultimately leads us to the place we’ve reached unfortunately with the first-generation CAR T products,” Foster told Pharma Manufacturing in a recent company profile. He contends that “flexibility and scalability in the same platform are the core principles” of Ori’s platform.