BioOra Limited ("BioOra"), a commercial-stage cell therapy company advancing CAR-T therapies for cancer patients, and Octane Biotech Inc., an Octane Medical Group Company ("Octane"), announced the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to collaborate on the co-development and deployment of advanced cell therapies using the Cocoon® automated cell therapy manufacturing platform.

Octane is advancing the Cocoon Platform to enable efficient, decentralized scaling of cell therapy manufacturing. In parallel, BioOra is constructing a bespoke cell therapy manufacturing facility in Christchurch New Zealand, the BioOra Health & Technology Centre, designed to concurrently operate Cocoon systems to meet growing regional demand for CAR-T and other advanced cell therapies. By leveraging the automated and integrated design of the Cocoon Platform, the collaboration is expected to improve operational efficiency, increase manufacturing throughput, and reduce vein-to-vein time, supporting a new model for delivering personalized cell therapies.

“BioOra has demonstrated that manufacturing using the Cocoon Platform can support the commercial delivery of CAR-T therapy in New Zealand,” said John Robson, Chief Executive Officer of BioOra. “Our new Christchurch facility is designed to scale this model using multiple Cocoon systems. Partnering with Octane allows us to expand into Australia and beyond while improving efficiency and increasing patient access.”

“Octane was founded to unlock the full potential of cell therapy production,” said Timothy Smith, CEO and co-founder of Octane. “BioOra is setting the standard for how this model can be deployed at scale. By combining Cocoon-enabled automation with BioOra’s leading clinical and manufacturing infrastructure, we are building a more efficient, scalable paradigm that has the potential to redefine access to cell therapies globally.”

The collaboration is also expected to expand international patient access through therapy delivery in New Zealand, and potentially in Australia, where BioOra is establishing partnerships to deliver CAR-T therapies to the large number of patients who do not have access in their home countries.

As part of the collaboration, BioOra and Octane intend to develop closed, integrated, end-to-end manufacturing solutions spanning cell collection, automated processing, and final product release for BioOra cell therapy products. These innovations are designed to simplify manufacturing workflows, further improving the accessibility and practicality of CAR-T therapy.

“CAR-T therapies have demonstrated extraordinary potential to cure otherwise lethal cancers, but scaling access has been limited by manufacturing complexity,” said Laurence Cooper, MD, PhD, CAR-T pioneer, and Board Member of BioOra. “Aligning automation with advanced therapeutics through the Cocoon Platform can dramatically expand access. This collaboration fits directly with BioOra’s vision of becoming the first commercial CAR-T company in the Southern Hemisphere, bringing these transformative therapies to far more patients.”

The collaboration will focus on:

• Scaling BioOra’s CAR-T manufacturing operations in New Zealand using the Cocoon Platform
• Expanding manufacturing into Australia and North America to support regional patient access
• Developing additional cell therapy programs for deployment on the Cocoon Platform
• Co-developing production efficiencies to further automate CAR-T manufacturing solutions

The companies expect to formalize additional development and commercialization agreements following the execution of definitive collaboration agreements.