MicrofluidX (MFX), a U.K. based provider of next-generation bioreactors for cell research and manufacturing, has announced £3.3 million ($4 million) of secured investments. This brings the company’s total funding to date to £7 million ($8.5 million).
MicrofluidX’s next generation platform, the Cyto Engine, addresses the need for an affordable, scalable cell culture platform to revolutionize research, facilitate large-scale manufacture, and enable widespread access to advanced therapies.
The latest round of funding has been secured from Longwall Ventures, UKI2S, Perscitus, J.B. Ugland Venture AS, Puffin Point Ltd, and Esco LifeSciences.
“Advanced therapy manufacturing is hindered by out of date, inadequate manufacturing technologies,” said Antoine Espinet, CEO of MicrofluidX .
“Our aim to commoditize manufacturing for cell and gene therapies through automation, digitalization, and the adoption of machine learning is supported by our investors, who appreciate the incredible impact this could have on the cell and gene therapy sector, and ultimately patients around the world.”
MicrofluidX addressing pain points
MicrofluidX said it is addressing the two large pain points faced by the advanced therapies industry, commercialization and clinical translation.
By providing a scalable bioprocessing platform with complete integration of online process analytical tools and data analytics powered by machine learning, the company hopes the Cyto Engine will reduce the cost and time of advanced therapy development and help bring these life-saving treatments to patients.
In addition to product development, the new funding will be used to set up further external trials with end users, including the recently announced pilot manufacturing feasibility line with VTT Finland and Jabil Healthcare. This follows the successful trials automating the expansion of T cells with the Cell and Gene Catapult, and mesenchymal stem cells with Stemmatters.
“We are charging forward on our mission to develop the most precise, scalable, automated bioprocessing platform for the cell and gene manufacturing sector. We want to bring precision biology to patients, and we are grateful to our funders for helping us to do so,” Espinet said.