PBS Biotech Brings Rockwell Automation Into Cell Therapy Development

Cell therapy developers have a scale-up problem: a process that works in a small development system still has to translate into a controlled, repeatable manufacturing process. PBS Biotech is addressing that gap by bringing Rockwell Automation’s industrial control technology into its MiniPRO bioreactor platform.

The MiniPRO can run up to 24 closed-system bioreactors in parallel, allowing developers to test media, feeds and process conditions simultaneously. PBS has now embedded Rockwell’s FactoryTalk software and process-control technology into the platform, giving developers real-time control and process visibility in an automation environment designed to connect with larger PlantPAx distributed control systems. 

Cell therapy companies eventually have to move promising processes into clinical and commercial manufacturing. Changing control architectures during that transition can add integration, validation and data-management work. PBS is instead using the same Vertical-Wheel platform across development and larger production systems, with volumes ranging from the MiniPRO scale to 80 litres. That gives developers a more consistent process environment as they scale.

Process data generated during development can remain connected to a familiar automation architecture as a program moves toward GMP manufacturing. PBS’s broader Vertical-Wheel portfolio is designed around the same underlying technology from small-scale development through larger clinical and commercial systems.

Image Source – PBS Biotech