Cell Therapy Company Uses TAP’s Fill-It Automated Cryovial Processing System

TAP Biosystems has announced that its Fill-It™, automated benchtop vial filling system is being routinely used at an innovative cell therapy company developing novel cancer immunotherapies, to improve processing speed and throughput of large batches of cells in cryovials for use as master cell banks or as cell-based immunotherapies.

Scientists at the company are using Fill-It to produce batches of around 1000 cryovials per run, containing 0.65ml of up to 100 million cell/ml of an immunotherapy product candidate, consisting of two allogeneic cancer cell lines.

Fill-It aseptically processes these temperature-sensitive cells at high throughput, enabling vials to be uncapped, filled and recapped at speed, so they can be put them in the freezer quickly to maintain optimum cell quality.

Stephen Guy, Fill-It Product Manager at TAP, explained: “The company wanted to automate their vial processing as it was taking around one and half hours for a scientist to produce a batch of 1000 vials. As well as the RSI issues associated with uncapping and recapping this number of vials, it was difficult to maintain product consistency across the batch. Using the Fill-It automated system, batches of vials are processed at speed with minimal human interaction. The cells are dispensed using sterile, GMP-certified disposable tubing and the vials get into the freezer quickly. This results in cell numbers being maintained at consistently high quality until the vials are thawed for use.”

Guy added: “We are delighted our Fill-It system is helping such an innovative cell therapy company to ensure their critical cancer cell banks and cancer immunotherapies are maintained in top condition. This firm’s routine application of our technology demonstrates to cell therapy companies looking for a method of rapidly producing large batches of consistent quality cells that a Fill-It system is a tried and trusted choice.”