Scinus Group Secures €3 Million to Advance Cell Therapy Manufacturing Platform
Key Insights
Scinus Group (search) raised €3 million in strategic funding led by Myosotis Investments (search) to accelerate global commercialization of its Osilaris™ cell expansion platform.
The automated bioreactor system addresses manufacturing bottlenecks in cell therapy production through dynamic expansion capabilities and GMP-compliant closed processing.
The platform is already commercially available and installed at academic ATMP manufacturers and CDMOs across Europe, supporting CAR-T (search) therapies and other advanced cell treatments.
Utrecht-based Scinus Group (search) has secured €3 million in strategic investment to accelerate the global commercial roll-out of its Osilaris™ cell expansion platform, addressing one of the most significant manufacturing challenges facing the cell therapy industry. The funding round was led by Myosotis Investments (search), with participation from existing shareholders including the company's founders and the Demcon Innovation Fund (search).
Addressing Manufacturing Bottlenecks in Cell Therapy
The Osilaris™ platform represents a closed, automated bioreactor system specifically designed to overcome manufacturing constraints that have limited the scalability of cell therapy production. According to Scinus, the system enables dynamic cell expansion as cultures grow, avoiding the limitations of fixed-volume systems and supporting significantly higher expansion rates.
The platform's proprietary oxygenation and mixing technology allows for gentle, shear-free processing while maintaining precise control over critical process parameters. This approach is particularly important for sensitive cell types and aims to improve manufacturing consistency across production runs.
GMP-Compliant Technology for Commercial Applications
The fully closed, GMP-compliant design of the Osilaris™ system enables multiple unit operations to be integrated within a single environment. This integration reduces contamination risks, lowers manual handling requirements, and decreases both media consumption and labor costs in GMP manufacturing environments.
The platform is already commercially available and has been installed at several academic advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) manufacturers and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) across Europe. The system supports a broad range of applications including CAR-T (search) and CAR-TCR (search) therapies, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (search), mesenchymal stem cells (search), induced pluripotent stem cells, organoids, viral vector production, and extracellular vesicles.
Leadership Changes and Strategic Direction
As part of the investment transaction, Dr. Erik Vossenaar, currently acting managing director of Scinus, will become executive director and CEO. Dr. Janeska de Jonge will join the board as a non-executive director representing Myosotis Investments (search), with a third board member expected to be appointed later.
"We are pleased to welcome Myosotis Investments (search) as lead investor in this round and to continue the strong support from our founders and Demcon," said Dr. Vossenaar. "This investment brings Scinus to the next level of organizational maturity. With a strengthened governance structure and a market-ready GMP-compliant platform, we are well positioned to execute our commercial roll-out strategy in key markets and move steadily toward profitability."
Industry Context and Market Opportunity
Dr. Wietse Mulder, founder and managing partner of Myosotis Investments (search), emphasized the critical need for robust manufacturing solutions in the advancing cell therapy sector. "Advanced cell therapies require robust and scalable manufacturing solutions. Scinus has developed a differentiated platform that addresses key bottlenecks in control, scalability and cost-efficiency," Mulder stated.
The investment comes at a time when the potential of cell therapies is becoming increasingly apparent, yet manufacturing remains one of the industry's biggest challenges. As more therapies advance beyond early clinical stages, the capacity to reliably produce cells at scale without increasing costs becomes increasingly vital for broadening patient access and maintaining sustainable commercialization.
Company Background and Development
Scinus Group (search) was established in 2016 following its demerger from Xpand Biotechnology and was founded by Prof. Dr. Joost de Bruijn, Prof. Dr. Clemens van Blitterswijk, and FrankJan van der Velden. Demcon joined the company as a strategic investor and engineering partner in 2019, helping to industrialize and commercialize the Osilaris platform.
Dr. Dennis Schipper, founder and CEO of Demcon, noted the collaborative development process: "Within the Demcon group, we have worked closely with Scinus to industrialize its cell expansion technology into a robust platform for cellular biotherapy manufacturing. It is rewarding to see Scinus reach this level of maturity, and we are pleased that the company is now ready to move decisively into its next phase of growth."