Lonza and AllCells Partner to Advance Global Commercialization of Hematopoietic Primary Cells

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that Lonza, a renowned Swiss biopharmaceutical company, and AllCells, an industry-leading biotechnology firm, have recently established a partnership to jointly manufacture primary hematopoietic cells and promote their commercial application worldwide. This collaboration will expand the supply of Lonza’s existing hematopoietic cell products, enabling cell biologists to more readily access large quantities of high-quality cells to facilitate their scientific research.

Under the new agreement, the entire AllCells research product portfolio will be launched under the Lonza brand, enabling scientists worldwide to conduct further research across a range of application areas, including drug development, toxicity testing, cell therapy, and personalized medicine.

Primary hematopoietic cells closely reflect in vivo morphological, metabolic, and growth characteristics, playing a crucial role in in vitro studies. However, obtaining these cells requires researchers to identify various donors and perform a series of laborious cell isolation procedures.

“Through this partnership, our goal is to gain direct access to a large volume of ready-to-use hematopoietic cells, such as mobilized peripheral blood progenitor cells,” said Mary Riley, Director of Discovery Solutions at Lonza. “All researchers need to do is thaw and culture these cells, while also leveraging Lonza’s robust post-sales technical support to facilitate their work.”

Don Klabunde, CEO of AllCells, added, “By leveraging our expertise in bio-customization, high-speed manufacturing, and operational flexibility, AllCells will continue to produce hematopoietic cells with superior viability and quality. By capitalizing on Lonza’s extensive market reach, we will enhance the availability of high-purity cells from diverse tissue sources to meet a wide range of research needs.”

Lonza Group AG was founded in 1897 in the Swiss Alps and has since become a highly respected global company, with more than 100 offices and approximately 15,500 full-time employees worldwide. The company reported sales of CHF 5.5 billion in 2018.

Lonza Group primarily provides active ingredients, chemical intermediates, and biotechnology solutions to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. The company also offers a portfolio of applications for organic intermediates, such as those used in pharmaceuticals, pesticides, vitamins, food and feed, dyes and pigments, adhesives, and fragrances. Additionally, in the fields of exclusive synthesis and biopharmaceuticals, Lonza serves as a custom manufacturing partner for global life sciences companies.

In the field of biotechnology, Lonza acquired rights to CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology from ERS Genomics in late 2018. In mid-2017, Lonza acquired exosome research company HansaBioMed Life Sciences and invested in Exosomics, a developer of cancer tests.

AllCells is a leading biotechnology company headquartered in Alameda, California, USA. AllCells is dedicated to providing high-quality primary cells to researchers and biomanufacturing organizations to help them achieve innovations in drug discovery, preclinical development, and cell therapy. Meanwhile, AllCells maintains an extensive library of donor profiles available for various biomedical applications.

(Compiled by: Ning Chen)