Ori Biotech Announces 10-year, $120M Partnership to Advance Automated Manufacturing for Commercial Cell Therapies

Collaboration to switch a commercial cell therapy onto the IRO^® platform for an undisclosed pharma partner

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oribiotech Ltd. (Ori), a leader in advanced cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing technology, today announced a strategic collaboration with an undisclosed biopharmaceutical company to integrate the IRO^® platform into a commercial cell therapy manufacturing process in a deal valued at up to $120M in services, milestones, equipment and consumable purchases over the next 10 years. The collaboration is designed to modernize the partner’s autologous cell therapy manufacturing infrastructure with the aim of expanding patient access to current and future potentially transformative cell therapies.

Autologous cell therapies, manufactured from a patient's own cells, require precise, reliable and scalable manufacturing processes. Meeting that requirement is essential to sustaining commercial availability and to rapidly bringing the next generation of cell therapies to patients at scale. The IRO^® platform (IRO) automates better biology by combining proprietary hardware, consumables, software and data analytics in a closed, GMP-ready system. Designed to support the full journey from R&D through commercial manufacturing on a single platform, IRO addresses the core challenges of autologous cell therapy production: reducing batch-to-batch variability, minimizing operator touch time, increasing throughput, and lowering COGS — while improving the biological performance that often determines clinical outcomes. The IRO platform received Advanced Manufacturing Technology designation from the US FDA in June 2025, further validating IRO as a leading solution for overcoming the manufacturing challenges that continue to limit the clinical and commercial impact of autologous cell therapies.

Through this collaboration, the parties will work together to demonstrate comparability of the IRO process to the existing commercial manufacturing process. The aim is to build a flexible and scalable manufacturing infrastructure that can support ongoing commercial supply as well as future development and commercialization needs. With 23 partners since launch in 2024, IRO is rapidly being adopted as the new standard in cell therapy manufacturing, reaching a new milestone in May 2026 with the dosing of the first patient treated with a therapy manufactured on the IRO platform and released under GMP.

“Our newest partner has made an important commitment to further advancing its cell therapy capabilities at a time when the field needs dedicated, patient-focused organizations to help bring these therapies to patients,” said Jason C. Foster, CEO, Ori Biotech. “We are proud to be their chosen manufacturing technology partner. The IRO platform was built precisely for this challenge: to give therapy developers the scalability, reproducibility and cost efficiency they need to realize both the clinical and commercial benefits of these groundbreaking therapies. Together, we are committed to ensuring that the appropriate patients have access to these potentially transformative therapies.”

“The IRO technology continues to fulfill the promise of Ori’s mission to enable widespread patient access to potentially life-saving cell and gene therapies. Ori’s rapidly growing list of partnerships across leading therapy developers, academic institutions and CDMOs puts the company at the forefront of supporting the indications within oncology and immunology in which these therapies are transforming the lives of patients globally,” said Dr. Annalisa Jenkins, Board Chair of Ori Biotech. “This collaboration will allow our partner to unlock true automation and open up access for more patients without having to sacrifice the biological performance of their pioneering therapy.”

This collaboration reflects a shared conviction by both partners that the future of autologous cell therapy depends not only on clinical benefits but also on the manufacturing infrastructure to deliver those benefits reliably and at scale to the patients who need them. With the signing of this partnership, both parties are firmly committed to pushing this objective forward together.

NOTE: The biopharmaceutical partner wanted their company identity to remain confidential for competitive reasons.

About Ori Biotech

Ori Biotech is a London and Philadelphia-based manufacturing technology company on a mission to enable widespread patient access to life-saving cell and gene therapies. IRO^®, Ori's next-generation manufacturing platform automates better biology, accelerates product development and enables therapy developers to scale their products' clinical and commercial impact by seamlessly transitioning from R&D to GMP on one platform. The IRO platform has received FDA Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation, recognizing it as a leading next-generation solution for cell and gene therapy manufacturing. For news and updates, visit oribiotech.com/news-insights.