Oxford BioMedica is building a digital and robotics framework to automate the production of lentiviral vectors—the viral delivery vehicles used in gene therapies like the cancer treatment Kymriah™. The problem is that manufacturing these complex biological medicines is slow, expensive, and prone to waste. As the sole manufacturer of Kymriah™ and a leader in lentiviral vector development, Oxford BioMedica needs to scale up production without sacrificing quality or raising costs. Current manual processes limit capacity and lengthen supply times. This £4 million capital project targets those bottlenecks. By digitising analytical methods, automating workflows, and integrating robotics across its manufacturing sites, the company aims to cut waste, reduce the cost of goods, and speed up delivery to patients. If successful, the Digital Framework Project will help keep production of these life-altering therapies in the UK, while maintaining the company’s global competitive edge. For patients, that means more reliable access to gene therapies for a range of diseases—from cancer to inherited genetic disorders—without the delays or price hikes that often come with scaling up novel treatments.
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Oxford BioMedica (OXB) is a company with broad and global market-leading capabilities in terms of development, manufacture and testing of lentiviral vectors for clinical and commercial use. As a platform and product developer OXB pioneered in vivo delivery of lentiviral vectors. Through a partnership with Novartis, OXB is the sole manufacturer of lentiviral vector in support of Kymriah™, the worlds’ first commercially approved product based on lentiviral vector technology. OXB is a rapidly growing UK-based organisation specialised in the development and manufacture of ATMPs, and needs to continue to invest in technology, capacity and innovation in order to grow and retain market share. OXB is at the forefront of lentiviral vector development and supply and is seeking to invest long term to maintain this lead. OXB seeks support for a £4million capital project focused on building a digital and robotics framework across OXB, with targetted capacity improvement, reduced waste and reduce cost of manufacture. The project, known as Digital Framework Project (DFP) goal is to drive improvements in analytical methodology, supply times and cost of goods . The DFP will enable OXB and our partners to deliver life altering lentiviral vector products to patients around the globe for a wide range of diseases. This investment will enable OXB to maintain our global leading position, and will ensure additional high value digital driven revenue generating activities can be realised in the UK.
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