Cellares, a pioneer in automated cell therapy manufacturing, has partnered with Mitsui Fudosan to establish Japan's first next-generation commercial production site for CAR-T cell therapies. The facility is currently under construction in Kashiwa City, located approximately 30 kilometers northeast of central Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture, within the extensive Tokyo metropolitan region that serves as a booming biotech hub.
Revolutionary Manufacturing Technology
The groundbreaking Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) Smart Factory will utilize Cellares' state-of-the-art technology platforms, the Cell Shuttle™ and Cell Q™, to automate cell therapy manufacturing and quality control. This technology represents a significant advancement over conventional Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) that rely on manual processes.
The automated system delivers substantial economic benefits, reducing batch prices by up to 50% while eliminating the manufacturing bottlenecks that plague traditional facilities. The entire Smart Factory will be integrated and optimized to eliminate downstream bottlenecks as well, creating a seamless production environment.
Strategic Impact on Patient Access
"Cellares' new facility in Kashiwa City will enable our pharma clients to supply Japan from Japan. Manufacturing cell therapies locally simplifies cold chain logistics, accelerates vein-to-vein time and reduces cost," said Fabian Gerlinghaus, CEO and Co-Founder of Cellares. "Our Japanese IDMO Smart Factory is part of a broader strategy to be a global manufacturing partner for our clients and meet the total patient demand for cell therapies around the world."
The facility is expected to provide employment to 350 people while enabling scalable and cost-effective cell therapy manufacturing, addressing an urgent need for patients in Japan and neighboring regions. The local production capability will significantly improve access to cutting-edge therapies for cancer patients in the region.
Advancing Japan's Cell Therapy Landscape
The new site's impact extends beyond immediate patient care benefits. By accelerating the availability of CAR-T treatments, this initiative has the potential to help advance the development and approval of CAR-T therapeutics in Japan. Once operational, technical transfers between Cellares facilities in other regions are expected to be seamless, rapid, software-enabled processes.
Dr. Toshihiko Doi, the Chairperson of the Kashiwa-no-ha Life Science Committee, emphasized the clinical significance: "For cancer patients in Japan, the establishment of this facility provides access to cutting-edge therapies that can make a critical difference in their fight against diseases. It marks a significant step toward eliminating the drug delivery lag time that has been a challenge for rare disease and oncology treatments."
Global Manufacturing Network
The Japanese facility represents part of Cellares' broader global expansion strategy. The company is headquartered in South San Francisco, California, with its first commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Cellares is building a global network of IDMO Smart Factories, with additional facilities under construction in Europe and Japan.
Thanks to fully automated processes on standardized technologies, technical transfers can now happen at digital speed, enabling rapid deployment of manufacturing capabilities across the global network. Each Smart Factory is designed to produce 10 times as many cell therapy batches as a conventional CDMO with the same facility size and headcount.
Mitsui Fudosan's robust network in Japan's life sciences industry has been instrumental in enabling this collaboration, ensuring smooth dissemination of information to the pharmaceutical industry, government agencies, and the broader healthcare community. The partnership leverages Mitsui Fudosan's experience in creating communities where new life science industries can grow, particularly at Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City.
