Trenchant BioSystems Inc., the CGT manufacturing platform developer for gene-modified cells, and Invetech have announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance. The alliance will collaborate on the continued development of Trenchant’s fully automated AutoCell Platform, intended for future commercialisation.
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Testing data previously announced in January 2026 demonstrate that Trenchant’s AutoCell platform has shown the potential to support manufacturing workflows that could reduce or eliminate certain ex‑vivo expansion steps. Essentially, the data supports that Trenchant’s fully automated CGT manufacturing solution could materially reduce cell and gene therapy manufacturing costs by up to 80% and the time of manufacturing by up to 95%. In addition, the data demonstrates that T-cells could be sourced from a single unit of whole blood drawn from the patient. The completion of the final stages of development of the AutoCell product will aim to implement full automation of the end-to-end CGT manufacturing process at the point of care.
Under the alliance, Invetech is expected to provide engineering, development, and manufacturing support services. To achieve this, Invetech will utilise its decades of experience in cell and gene therapy, including in-house development and manufacturing. This includes an over 20-year track record of working with tool providers and therapy manufacturers, from early-stage companies and CDMOs to big pharma organisations.
Trenchant currently plans a first phase launch of an early access platform for select partners in early 2027, with full commercial release later in 2027.
“Current cell and gene therapy manufacturing practices are too time consuming and costly to be scalable to serve large-scale patient populations. Trenchant BioSystems has now released internal and independent data that confirms that its AutoCell product holds the solution to these challenges,” said Jon Ellis, CEO, Trenchant BioSystems. “The alliance will allow Trenchant to leverage Invetech’s expertise to take this prototype solution and release a commercial product in 2027.”
“Trenchant’s AutoCell platform has the potential to help address persistent manufacturing challenges in the CGT industry and, over time, support broader patient access to advanced therapies. Both parties are now focused on bringing this breakthrough platform to the CGT market and deliver a solution that will transform the sector,” said Andreas Knaack, CEO, Invetech. “Trenchant’s AutoCell has the potential to realize the dream of distributed (Point-of-Care) manufacturing, with the additional benefits of significantly reduced COGs, thus enabling accessibility and affordability of treatment for essentially every patient in treatment centers anywhere around the world.”