908 Devices Inc. (Nasdaq: MASS), a pioneer of purpose-built handheld and desktop devices for chemical and biochemical analysis, and medical technology company Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies (Terumo BCT) announce a collaboration to enable on-line monitoring of critical process parameters in Terumo BCT’s Quantum Flex Cell Expansion System

The combination of the companies’ automation technologies will help advance the development of life-saving cell and gene therapies by providing insights into and control of one of the largest components of cell therapy development and manufacturing.

Cell and gene therapy developers are increasingly looking to automation to improve manufacturing efficiency, simplify workflows and reduce costs. But quality control today requires having expert staff spending hours on clean room floors to perform manual tasks without error or contamination instead of responding only as needed when issues arise.

908 Devices is introducing MAVEN, its on-line glucose and lactate analyzer, to Terumo BCT’s Quantum Flex to provide cell and gene therapy development customers with the ability to monitor and control key process parameters in cell cultures without having to enter the clean room and perform manual sampling. This helps reduce the risk of contamination, save operator time and improve process understanding.

“We are proud to be working with a leading cell therapy technologies innovator to meet the next level of process integration in biopharma,” said Kevin J. Knopp, CEO and co-founder of 908 Devices. “We are committed to providing devices that enable scientists to gain insights that reduce costs and accelerate progress.”

Terumo BCT’s Quantum Flex Cell Expansion System is an automated and functionally closed system purpose-built to meet the needs of cell therapy developers throughout their commercialization journey, from process development to clinical manufacturing. Quantum Flex helps lower the risk of contamination and enables reproducibility and process scale. It is compatible with a range of suspension cells, adherent cells, viral vectors and exosomes.

“Combining our Quantum Flex platform with 908 Devices’ on-line monitoring will help cell therapy manufacturers reduce time-consuming manual steps that increase manufacturing costs and risks,” said Kathie Schneider, Director, Global Commercial Lead, Cell Therapy Technologies at Terumo BCT. “We continue to collaborate with industry experts to further enhance our solution offering to solve industry challenges.”