Platelet Biogenesis and Scaled Biolabs to Collaborate to Optimize Platelet Production Platform

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Platelet Biogenesis(PBG), the leader in the production of functional human platelets (PLTs+™) from stem cells and the development of platelet-based therapeutics, and Scaled Biolabs (Scaled) announced the two firms are collaborating to optimize PBG’s unique production process for making human platelets, or PLTs+™. The agreement was announced at the SynBioBeta 2018 biology summit.

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Under the agreement, PBG will use Scaled’s Cell Therapy Development Engine, which uses microfluidics-based, high-throughput cell experimentation and informatics to greatly exceed the constraints of traditional pre-clinical development of cell therapies.

Drew Titmarsh, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Scaled Biolabs, said, “Cell therapy developers often prematurely lock-in manufacturing strategies, resulting in substandard processes that increase costs and diminish yields. Our work with Platelet BioGenesis will enable them to realize optimized production of PLTs+™.”

The agreement follows a successful pilot program that has boosted the performance economics of a critical stage of platelet production by almost an order of magnitude. Platelet BioGenesis is the first company to make functional human platelets in a scalable, cGMP-compliant bioreactor.

“Working with Scaled Biolabs means Platelet BioGenesis will be able to enter scale manufacturing and clinical trials with a robust, economical and streamlined production process,” said Brad Dykstra, Ph.D., senior scientist at PBG.

Platelet BioGenesis plans to incorporate results from the two firms’ collaboration to further accelerate preclinical development activities in 2019. The firm plans to begin clinical trials of its PLTs+™ in 2020.

“Our early-stage work with Scaled Biolabs has shown how their platform can enable critical improvements in our production process,” said Jonathan Thon, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Platelet BioGenesis. “We look forward to a productive collaboration as we advance the use of donor-independent platelets for transfusions and therapeutics based on customized, designer platelets.”

About Platelet BioGenesis
Platelet BioGenesis is a venture-backed, development stage biotech company creating the world’s first donor-independent source of platelets to address the chronic platelet shortage that affects patients worldwide. The company has developed and patented a scalable cGMP-compliant process to generate platelets from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Based in Cambridge, Mass., Platelet BioGenesis is also developing designer platelets (PLTs+™), a new class of therapeutics to treat cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The company was spun out of Harvard University and has received funding from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense. Learn more at www.plateletbiogenesis.com and follow us on Twitter @plateletbiogen.

About Scaled Biolabs Inc.
Scaled Biolabs is pioneering a Cell Therapy Discovery Engine, working at the frontier of microfluidics, automation, and machine learning to accelerate best-in-class cell-based medicines. This engine enables leading biotech and pharma companies to survey hundreds of parameters across tens of thousands of experimental processes, providing an unprecedented window into cell-driven biology. This optimizes cell-based products and processes, simplifying manufacturing, reducing time to market, and improving clinical outcomes. Scaled Biolabs also develops cell therapy assets internally, including a CIRM-funded program focusing on iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons as a curative cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease. Learn more at scaledbiolabs.com.

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