The deal, valued at up to $380m, includes upfront and milestone payments.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cellares will streamline, automate, and transfer technology for selected BMS CAR T cell therapies onto its Cell Shuttle manufacturing platform.
The collaboration will see the deployment of multiple Cell Shuttle and Cell Q systems, equipped with fully automated, high-throughput quality control, across Smart Factories of Cellares located in the US, European Union, and Japan.
This partnership will aid BMS to expand its manufacturing footprint and cater to this increasing need through a scalable platform that could improve delivery times.
The latest deal builds upon the existing relationship between the two companies.
In August last year, BMS was an investor in Cellares’ Series C financing to introduce the latter’s first IDMO Smart Factory to meet the cell therapy needs across the globe.
Additionally, BMS joined the Cellares Technology Adoption Partnership (TAP) programme to analyse the automated manufacturing expertise of Cell Shuttle.
Bristol Myers Squibb Cell Therapy Organization president Lynelle Hoch said: “The agreement with Cellares is our latest step forward in support of our comprehensive strategy to unlock the full potential of CAR T therapy to deliver transformative treatments to as many patients as possible, as quickly as possible.
“Our collaboration with Cellares strengthens our existing internal manufacturing capabilities for CAR T cell therapies by giving us access to the first end-to-end fully automated cell therapy manufacturing platform, to help ensure we meet the high demand for these differentiated treatments, now and in the future.”