At a Glance
- Company: Cellares and Sonoma Biotherapeutics
- Location: South San Francisco and Seattle
- Deal value: Not disclosed
- Focus area: Autoimmune disease, especially poly-refractory rheumatoid arthritis
- Next steps: Cellares will move SBT-77-7101 manufacturing onto the Cell Shuttle and automate QC with Cell Q
What happened?
Cellares and Sonoma Biotherapeutics have teamed up to automate manufacturing of SBT-77-7101, Sonoma’s lead engineered regulatory T cell therapy. The programme is in Phase 1 development for poly-refractory rheumatoid arthritis, a difficult-to-treat group of patients who have run out of standard options.
Why does it matter?
This is the first Treg cell therapy to be onboarded to the Cell Shuttle platform, which expands automated manufacturing into a more delicate cell-therapy modality. It could help solve one of the biggest bottlenecks in the field: making complex therapies consistently and at scale.
Who’s behind it?
Sonoma Biotherapeutics is developing engineered Treg therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, using a platform rooted in Treg biology. Cellares is providing the automated manufacturing and quality-control infrastructure through its Cell Shuttle and Cell Q systems.
How was it achieved?
Cellares will translate Sonoma’s manufacturing process onto the Cell Shuttle and use Cell Q for in-process and release testing. The goal is to preserve Treg identity and function, which are especially sensitive to manufacturing conditions, while improving throughput and reproducibility.
What’s next?
The collaboration is intended to support late-stage clinical development and future commercial readiness. Both companies frame the deal as a step toward bringing a harder-to-manufacture cell therapy to more patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis.