Xcellbio announced today that it had granted bluebird bio, Inc., a commercial license and entered into a supply agreement for the use of Xcellbio’s proprietary cell manufacturing technology, AVATAR™, to support commercialization of LYFGENIA^® gene therapy for the treatment of sickle cell disease for the treatment of patients 12 years of age or older with sickle cell disease and a history of vaso-occlusive events.

Xcellbio’s proprietary technology platform, AVATAR™, is incorporated into bluebird bio’s class-leading potency assay to predict the effectiveness of the gene therapy in patients. The assay utilizes AVATAR’s proprietary incubation technology, HYPERPRESS™, to replicate in vivo microenvironments where sickling occurs, ensuring patients receive effective treatments that can limit sickling of red blood cells.

“We’re humbled to play a small part in what is a transformative treatment option for patients suffering from sickle cell disease,” said Brian Feth, CEO of Xcellbio. “This agreement advances our business strategy of supporting new modalities in order to bring transformative treatment options to patients.”

The financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed.

About AVATAR platform

The AVATAR platform utilizes the HYPERPRESS™ incubation technology, a proprietary hyperbaric and hypoxic culturing workflow that enhances the metabolic fitness of therapeutic human cells. The AVATAR platform includes the AVATAR Odyssey™, a compact incubator designed for rapid manufacturing, research and discovery applications; AVATAR Foundry™, a closed, fully automated, GMP manufacturing platform, and AVATAR Ai™, a real-time, label-free analytics system that can predict potency of treatments in the tumor microenvironment.

About Xcellbio

Xcellbio is driven by its mission to enhance the performance and safety of cell and gene-based therapies through the design and development of revolutionary technology platforms. The company’s commercial instruments and AI-driven software allow researchers to discover novel insights into immune and tumor biology and enable the translation of these insights at patient scale through the development of its pioneering cGMP cell therapy manufacturing platform. Based in San Francisco, Xcellbio can also be found online at www.xcellbio.com.

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