BioLife Solutions announces signing of confidential agreement with T cell therapy customer

BioLife Solutions, Inc. (BioLife), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of proprietary clinical grade cell and tissue hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media, has announced that it has executed a new confidential agreement to supply its proprietary CryoStor^® cell freeze media to a leading T cell therapy customer. To date, BioLife has executed long-term supply agreements with Adaptimmune, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Celyad, Kite Pharma, TissueGene, TxCell and two other unnamed customers.

Management is reiterating the following estimates regarding product adoption in the regenerative medicine market segment:

• CryoStor and HypoThermosol^®, BioLife’s cell and tissue storage and shipping media, have been used in more than 250 regenerative medicine applications.
• A majority of the companies developing and commercialising T-cell therapies using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, T-regulatory cells, natural killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells, T-cell receptors and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) are using BioLife products.
• Each customer application represents the potential for annual revenue to BioLife of $500,000 to $2,000,000 if regulatory approvals are obtained and full-scale manufacturing is reached.

Mike Rice, BioLife President & CEO, commented, "Execution of these supply agreements continues to demonstrate the critical role our proprietary biopreservation media products play in our customers’ manufacturing, storage, and distribution processes.  CryoStor and HypoThermosol provide competitive cell manufacturing advantages that can reduce needle-to-needle time, extend shelf life, and improve the health and function of various types of T cells targeting blood cancers, solid tumors, and immune disorders."

The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine recently published its Q3 2017 Data Report, citing the following:

• Globally, companies active in gene and cellular therapies and other regenerative medicines raised more than $6.1 billion in the first three quarters of 2017, $1.8 billion in Q3 alone.
• There were 934 clinical trials underway worldwide at the close of the third quarter 2017, with more than 53% of those in oncology and nearly 10% in cardiovascular disorders.

BioLife Solutions is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of proprietary clinical grade cell and tissue hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media for cells and tissues. Our proprietary HypoThermosol^® and CryoStor^® platform of solutions are highly valued in the regenerative medicine, biobanking and drug discovery markets. Its biopreservation media products are serum-free and protein-free, fully defined, and are formulated to reduce preservation-induced cell damage and death; offering commercial companies and clinical researchers significant improvement in shelf life and post-preservation viability and function.