NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[hyperopia]

Viking, cell therapy and its manufacturing is in its infancy so I would agree with your friend that yes, over time, cell therapy treatments will likely be produced in specialized hospital labs. The first version of the Flaskworks’ system is only capable of automating part of the manufacturing process, (culturing, maturation, lysate pulsing, and washing) but there’s several other steps in the manufacturing process that currently require highly skilled technicians and expensive cleanrooms. I believe that Advent is developing an automated workflow using multiple pieces of equipment to close and automate most of these processes for the commercial production of DCVax, but it will be many years down the road before DCVax can be manufactured in hospital labs using the Flaskworks’ system. I think the plan is to follow the established central manufacturing model of the CAR-T’s, and have regional manufacturing facilities while manufacturing is further developed and optimized.

There are other completely closed and automated cell therapy manufacturing systems that are capable of manufacturing cell therapies start to finish like the CliniMACS Prodigy, Cocoon, and Cell Shuttle that I think are likely to be used in a hospital setting far earlier than Flaskworks. I answered a similar question a while ago and provided links to some of these more advanced systems here