In collaboration with Karis Bio, Cellino makes its Asia-Pacific debut by industrializing a novel iPSC-derived cell therapy for cardiovascular disease.

Through a strategic partnership with Karis Bio, a top South Korean cell therapy biotech, Cellino, a biotechnology firm that is leading autonomous biomanufacturing for personalized regenerative medicine, has announced its entry into the Asia-Pacific market. In order to treat peripheral artery disease (PAD) and coronary artery disease (CAD), the collaboration intends to industrialize the first clinical-stage autologous induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cell treatment in history.

Through the partnership, Karis Bio's novel autologous iPSC-derived endothelial cell (iPSC-EC) therapy—which creates new blood arteries in ischemic organs—will advance more quickly. In South Korea, Karis Bio's first-in-human clinical study uses patient-specific iPSCs to repair damaged tissues and restore blood flow, giving patients a cutting-edge substitute for invasive procedures like bypass surgery or stents without the risk of immunological rejection.

Karis Bio's journey to commercial scale will be accelerated by Cellino's Nebula platform, which will allow for the high-quality, scalable generation of autologous iPSCs. The Nebula platform is an innovative closed-cassette biomanufacturing system that can be deployed at the point of care and is autonomous, guaranteeing reliable, repeatable, and contamination-free production. The partnership's first phase is centered on industrializing the production of autologous iPSCs, with ambitions to move into Phase 2 trials in the US through Karis Bio, USA (with its headquarters located in Atlanta).

This partnership highlights Cellino's worldwide goal of enabling widespread access to autologous cell treatments and is the company's first foray into the Asia-Pacific area. Cellino and Karis Bio are well-positioned to expedite the creation of customized regenerative medications for patients suffering from cardiovascular disease by combining AI-driven automation, robotics, and high-throughput biomanufacturing.