SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 3, 2026--
Cellares, the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO), and TScan Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TCRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of T cell receptor (TCR)-engineered T cell (TCR-T) therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer, today announced an agreement to evaluate automated clinical manufacturing of TSC-101, TScan's lead TCR-T therapy candidate for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), through a comprehensive technical and operational assessment of Cellares' automated manufacturing and testing platforms.
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TSC-101 is designed to treat residual disease and prevent relapse in patients with AML and MDS undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). The therapy candidate uses a gene modification approach to engineer T cells from a healthy donor into a patient-specific cell therapy product. As TScan advances TSC-101 towards a pivotal trial, which is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2026, the Company is evaluating Cellares’ automated manufacturing platform as a scalable and economical path to future commercial demand.
Under the agreement, Cellares will automate the TSC-101 manufacturing and testing processes on the Cell Shuttle, its end-to-end manufacturing platform, and the Cell Q, its automated quality control and release testing system. These closed-system, fully automated workflows are designed to reduce process variability, minimize labor intensity, and enable consistent execution across runs and geographies, delivering the manufacturing economics and reliability that large-scale commercial production requires.
“As we prepare for the initiation of our pivotal study of TSC-101 this quarter, we are increasing our efforts for commercial readiness. Establishing a scalable and cost-efficient manufacturing strategy is a critical component. Cellares’ fully automated Cell Shuttle platform represents a promising approach to automating and scaling cell therapy production, with the potential to reduce manual processes and eliminate capacity constraints,” said Ray Lockard, M.B.A., Chief Manufacturing and Quality Officer of TScan Therapeutics. “Through this evaluation, we aim to determine how this technology could strengthen our long-term manufacturing network and support broader patient access, supporting our goal of delivering transformative therapies to patients as efficiently and reliably as possible.”
"Patients with AML or MDS who remain at risk of relapse following transplant represent exactly the kind of underserved population that automated manufacturing was designed to reach,” said Fabian Gerlinghaus, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cellares. "Bringing automation to a late-stage program like TSC-101, with its healthy donor-derived but patient-specific manufacturing model, is the kind of challenge the Cell Shuttle and Cell Q were built for, and we believe it represents the manufacturing economics any developer will need to reach a population of this scale."
The agreement adds TCR-engineered T cell therapies to Cellares’ growing portfolio of automated cell therapy modalities, which includes CAR-T cell therapies, hematopoietic stem cell programs, and autologous progenitor T cell therapies.
About TScan Therapeutics, Inc.
TScan is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of T cell receptor (TCR)-engineered T cell (TCR-T) therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer. The Company’s lead TCR-T therapy candidate is in development for the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies to prevent relapse following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (the ALLOHA™ Phase 1 heme trial). The Company is also in early stages of developing methods for in vivo engineering to treat solid tumors. In addition, the Company is applying its target discovery platform to discover novel targets in various T cell-mediated autoimmune disorders.
About Cellares
Cellares is the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO), providing global cell therapy development and manufacturing services through an Industry 4.0 approach to the mass manufacture of the living drugs of the 21st century. The company enables drug sponsors to develop, scale, and commercialize cell therapies with the capacity, reliability, and economics required to meet total patient demand.
Cellares' fully automated platforms — Cell Shuttle Ⓡ for end-to-end cell therapy manufacturing and Cell Q™ for automated in-process and release quality control — are deployed across its network of IDMO Smart Factories worldwide. These technologies deliver industry-leading manufacturing economics, higher process success rates, and the ability to produce up to 10× more cell therapy batches than conventional CDMOs with comparable footprint and headcount, resulting in the lowest cost of manufacturing in the industry. The Cell Shuttle is the first cell therapy manufacturing platform to receive the FDA's Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation, and has demonstrated a 100% automation success rate across more than a dozen automated processes.
Cellares has achieved key clinical validation milestones, including a successful IND Amendment enabling active clinical manufacturing on the Cell Shuttle platform, and the successful dosing of first patients in a partner clinical trial — marking the platform's transition from development-stage technology to clinically validated manufacturing infrastructure. These milestones span multiple therapeutic areas and cell therapy modalities, including both oncology and autoimmune indications.
Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, Cellares operates its first commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey, with additional facilities under construction in Europe and Japan. Through its global manufacturing network, Cellares is purpose-built to support both clinical and commercial programs and to expand access to life-saving cell therapies worldwide. For more information, visit www.cellares.com and follow Cellares on LinkedIn.
TScan Therapeutics Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, express or implied statements regarding the structure, timing, economics, reliability, and overall success of TScan Therapeutics, Inc.'s ("TScan") agreement with Cellares; TScan’s plans, progress, and timing related to TScan’s hematologic malignancies program, including initiation of a pivotal trial for TSC-101; TScan’s planned preclinical development and clinical trials for any of its programs; the potential benefits of any of TScan’s proprietary platforms or current or future product candidates in treating patients; and TScan’s goals and strategy. TScan intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as, but not limited to, “may,” “might,” “will,” “objective,” “intend,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “would,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “project,” “target,” “design,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “plan,” “on track,” or similar expressions or the negative of those terms. Such forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations that involve risks, changes in circumstances, assumptions, and uncertainties. The express or implied forward-looking statements included in this release are only predictions and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, without limitation: the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy, therapeutic effects and potential advantages of TScan’s TCR-T therapy product candidates; TScan’s expectations regarding its preclinical studies being predictive of clinical trial results; TScan’s cleared INDs being indicative or predictive of bringing TScan closer to its goal of providing customized TCR-T therapies to treat patients with cancer; the timing of the launch, initiation, progress, expected results and announcements of TScan’s preclinical studies, clinical trials and its research and development programs; TScan’s ability to enroll patients for its clinical trials within its expected timelines; TScan’s plans relating to developing and commercializing its TCR-T therapy product candidates, if approved, including sales strategy; estimates of the size of the addressable market for TScan’s TCR-T therapy product candidates; TScan’s manufacturing capabilities and the scalable nature of its manufacturing process; TScan’s estimates regarding expenses, future milestone payments and revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; TScan’s expectations regarding competition; TScan’s anticipated growth strategies; TScan’s ability to attract or retain key personnel; TScan’s ability to establish and maintain development partnerships and collaborations; TScan’s expectations regarding federal, state and foreign regulatory requirements; TScan’s ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for its proprietary platform technology and our product candidates; the sufficiency of TScan’s existing capital resources to fund its future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements; and other factors that are described in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of TScan’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any other filings that TScan has made or may make with the SEC in the future. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release represent TScan’s views only as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Except as required by law, TScan explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Cellares and TScan Therapeutics Announce Agreement to Evaluate Automated Manufacturing of TSC-101
