A team of experts from Bosch Health Campus, Heidelberg University Hospital, and packaging specialist OPTIMA pharma is doing pioneering work in the development of a decentralized, automated isolator-based manufacturing platform for CAR-T cell therapy. For this therapy, patient's own immune cells are taken, genetically modified so that they can recognize cancer cells in the body, and administered back to the patient. Currently, commercially available CAR T-cell products are approved for various types of leukemia and lymphoma and there are other experimental approaches for the treatment of additional diseases with CAR T-cells. 

High quality as well as cost and time savings 

Costly and time-consuming manual processes are being replaced by automated procedures. Automating CAR T-cell therapy production not only saves costs, it also ensures high quality. The number of hours that qualified personnel currently spend on CAR T-cell production will be reduced by at least 50 percent with the platform. The implementation of manufacturing units directly at the Bosch Health Campus is a major location advantage for Stuttgart: The innovative technology of point-of-care CAR T-cell manufacturing overcomes previous logistical challenges, and patients at the Robert Bosch Hospital and further clinics benefit directly from personalized treatment. 

By supporting the project under the umbrella of the Forum Gesundheitsstandort Baden-Württemberg, the state government of Baden-Württemberg is setting standards in personalized medicine. Following a successful development period, the prototype is scheduled to be installed at the BHC in 2026.