SCG Cell Therapy Pte Ltd (SCG), a biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapies for infectious diseases and their associated cancers, opened a cell therapy cGMP manufacturing facility and R&D Centre in Singapore. With the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the new facility leverages and extends SCG’s capabilities in advanced cell therapy manufacturing and off-the-shelf human-induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) technology. The facility will supply cell therapy products to partner hospitals in Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe.

Cell therapy manufacturing is often a complex process. Transforming from the traditional open and manual processes, SCG employs its closed and automated cell therapy manufacturing technologies, providing advantages in reduced contamination and risk, greater product consistency and efficiency, increased scalability, and lower cost.

In 2021, SCG collaborated with the Cell Therapy Facility of Singapore Health Sciences Authority (HSA-CTF) to validate its closed and automated cell therapy manufacturing system. The system was accredited by Singapore Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and the U.S. FDA for clinical trials.

“Cell therapy has demonstrated the potential to revolutionize treatment for cancers and other life-threatening diseases. However, the high manufacturing costs and supply limitation are limiting patient access to the treatment”, said Christy Ma, chief strategy officer of SCG Cell Therapy. “This advanced cell therapy manufacturing system reduces the amount of required cleanroom space by 80% per patient compared with manual manufacturing methods. It eliminates the labor-intensive procedures and improves throughput by a factor of ten. Overall, it is expected to reduce the per-patient manufacturing cost by up to 70%, making cell therapy an assessable and affordable treatment option for patients.”

“In line with Singapore’s advanced manufacturing initiatives, the opening of this facility set an important milestone of cell therapy manufacturing advancement in the region,” said Frank Wang, CEO of SCG Cell Therapy. “As our broad pipeline of cell therapy products progresses to the market, we look forward to further expanding our commercial-scale manufacturing capabilities in Singapore to deliver high-quality and affordable treatment to meet patients’ needs across Singapore, Asia-Pacific, and the world.”