Cellular Origins, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, and Resolution Therapeutics Form CGT Manufacturing Consortium

Text sign showing Industry News. Business photo text delivering news to the general public or a target public | Image Credit: © Artur - © Artur - stock.adobe.com

Cellular Origins, a TTP company, focused on the robotic manufacture of cell and gene therapies (CGTs); the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult), an independent organization specializing in CGT advancement; and Resolution Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company creating regenerative macrophage therapy to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, announced on July 11, 2025 that the three organizations are forming a consortium that aims to use novel technologies to internationally deliver a unique, efficient, fully automated, and scalable cell therapy manufacturing platform.

The project, which commenced on July 1, 2025, was awarded a cross-industry Smart Grant of £1 million (US$1.35 million) from the United Kingdom’s national innovation agency, Innovate UK, and will last for 20 months. The consortium’s partners will collaborate with their respective expertise in robotic and digital technologies as well as their own manufacturing processes, operations and facilities management, therapy development, novel product processes, and patient delivery. The collaboration is planned to be expanded through future joint development and delivery capabilities. Additional support will be provided by ScaleReady’s G-Rex bioreactor platform and Autolomous’ AutoloMATE eBMR solution.

Use of robotic manufacturing platform

Full integration of Cellular Origin’s CGT robotic manufacturing platform, Constellation, will be delivered at the CGT Catapult’s Digital and Automation Testbeds in the Stevenage Manufacturing Centre in the UK. The testbeds serve as good manufacturing practice (GMP) mirroring environments for the testing and adoption of next-generation technologies, and CGT Catapult will use the platform in real-world manufacturing of its testbeds to support the roll-out of Constellation in the UK and internationally. Collaborators will have full access to the installation through Digital and Automation Testbeds.

“Despite the incredible therapeutic performance of cell therapies, therapy development has greatly outpaced the ability for these treatments to be manufactured in sufficient quantities to reach all eligible patients. Manual manufacturing has only been able to be scaled up to deliver a few thousand patient doses per year. The CGT sector is currently only capable of manufacturing sufficient doses to treat less than 7% of eligible patients globally,” said Edwin Stone, CEO, Cellular Origins, in the press release (1). “To deliver therapies to the patients that need them requires fully automated manufacturing of the type that has revolutionized other high-tech manufacturing. This requires solving the cell therapy-specific technology challenges that allow the adoption of advanced robotics and AI into cell therapy manufacturing. This partnership with the CGT Catapult and Resolution Therapeutics, and the funding by Innovate UK, will deliver the most advanced, fully tested, fully automated, robotically operated CGT manufacturing platform to the market. Cellular Origins’ already established network of partnerships, most recently added to with our collaborations with Cytiva, Fresenius Kabi, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Johnson & Johnson, gives this specific consortium access to proven robotically automated manufacturing technology.”

“CGTs continue to deliver unparallelled therapeutic efficacy and life-saving or transforming options for a plethora of patients with currently limited therapeutic options. There is an opportunity for the UK to lead innovation in this sector, and ensure patients have access to the therapies they need,” said Matthew Durdy, chief executive, CGT Catapult, in the press release. “One of the most challenging problems to international delivery of these therapies to patients continues to be manufacturing. It is clear that robotics, AI, and digitization have now advanced to provide the required solution. The combination of three UK leaders in their respective CGT sectors will result in the reduction of costs and increase in manufacturing efficiency and capacity required to bring transformative therapies to patients. The funding by Innovate UK will give further support to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of CGT development.”

Collaborating on expertise

Resolution Therapeutics will provide expert input, advice, direction, as well as corporate, clinical, and commercial expertise in cell therapy from its work on Regenerative Macrophage Therapy (RMT). Resolution’s direction will provide a transformation from manual clinical-scale manufacturing to fully automated, GMP-ready commercial-scale CGT manufacturing.

“The field of [CGT] continues to expand, delivering an increasing range of innovative platforms with the potential to transform patient outcomes—such as our [RMT] platform,” said Dr. Amir Hefni, chief executive officer of Resolution Therapeutics, in the press release. “Our regenerative macrophage therapy program is now in the clinic. Our lead asset, RTX001, is currently in Phase I/II studies for the treatment of end-stage liver disease, with additional programs in development for a number of inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, including graft-versus-host disease and lung fibrosis. We are also collaborating with the CGT Catapult and Cellular Origins to leverage advanced automated robotics technology. This partnership will enable the scalable and cost-efficient manufacturing of next-generation CGTs, ensuring greater patient access to our therapies.”

Reference

1. Cellular Origins. Cellular Origins, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Resolution Therapeutics Form Consortium to Deliver Fully Automated Robotics CGT Manufacturing Platform. Press Release. July 11, 2025.