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News
Terumo BCT and TrAMPoline Pharma team up to tackle one of cancer therapy's toughest manufacturing challenges. The collaboration aims to automate the production of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies for solid tumors — an area where CAR-T has struggled. Using Terumo BCT's Quantum Flex™ Cell Expansion System, the partners hope to make TIL manufacturing more consistent, scalable, and clinically viable.
Bringing TIL therapy to scale — one automated step at a time
Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies (Terumo BCT) has announced a research collaboration with TrAMPoline Pharma and University of Colorado immunotherapy expert Eduardo Davila, PhD, to automate the manufacturing of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies for solid tumors. The effort centers on TrAMPoline's lead candidate, MightyTIL, which the company is preparing to advance into clinical trials.
TIL therapies are appealing because they use immune cells already present in the tumor microenvironment — giving them a natural advantage over CAR-T therapies, which have faced significant hurdles in solid tumors. But TIL manufacturing is notoriously complex: the starting material is a messy mix of disaggregated tissue with few T cells that are harder to expand, and therapeutic doses require far larger cell numbers than typical T cell therapies.
Key Takeaways
Why it matters: Solid tumors account for the vast majority of cancer cases, yet cell-based immunotherapies have largely failed to crack this space. Automating TIL manufacturing could be a critical step toward making these therapies accessible at clinical — and eventually commercial — scale.
