Cellares, Cabaletta Bio sign 10-year CAR-T therapy commercial supply deal

Cellares, an integrated development and manufacturing organization headquartered in South San Francisco, has entered a 10-year commercial supply agreement with Cabaletta Bio, a late-stage clinical biotechnology company, to support automated manufacturing of an investigational CAR-T therapy.

According to the announcement, the agreement covers production of rese-cel (resecabtagene autoleucel) — an autologous CAR-T therapy being developed for autoimmune diseases — and is intended to provide long-term manufacturing capacity and supply predictability as the therapy advances toward potential commercialization.

Cellares said its automated Cell Shuttle manufacturing platform and Cell Q quality control system will be used to support large-scale production, with the ability to manufacture thousands of batches annually. The approach is designed to improve throughput, reduce costs, and enable consistent product quality compared to conventional manufacturing methods.

The collaboration builds on the prior work between the companies, including process development, regulatory alignment, and initial patient dosing using automated manufacturing. The companies contend early clinical batches met release specifications and were delivered for patient treatment, supporting the transition to commercial-scale supply.

Cellares said the agreement reflects broader demand for scalable manufacturing solutions as cell therapies expand into indications with larger patient populations, such as autoimmune diseases.

The deal also builds on Cellares’ recent partnerships to advance automated cell therapy manufacturing. In February, the company expanded a collaboration with the University of Wisconsin to support clinical manufacturing and regulatory development of a gene-edited CAR-T program.