BioLife and Qkine Expand Access to Cell Therapy-Grade Cytokines and Growth Factors
BioLife Solutions recently announced a strategic partnership with Qkine Limited, a Cambridge, U.K.-based manufacturer of high-purity, animal-free growth factors, cytokines and complex proteins. The partnership gives BioLife customers easier access to defined, animal origin-free cytokines and growth factors that enable more controlled, scalable cell and gene therapy (CGT) workflows.
The collaboration supports CGT programs across areas such as cancer immunotherapy, genetic disorders, immune-related diseases and regenerative medicine, where process control and scalability are critical as teams move toward clinical translation.
Expanded Access to Cell Therapy Grade Proteins
Under the multiyear supply agreement, BioLife will distribute certain Qkine cytokine and growth factor products for CGT manufacturing. The agreement includes exclusive worldwide distribution rights to specific Qkine products for the CGT market, plus nonexclusive rights to additional Qkine products.
The first products include cell therapy-grade recombinant human interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-7 (IL-7), interleukin-15 (IL-15) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2). Together, these cytokines and growth factors help researchers guide how cells grow, activate, survive, and differentiate during culture.
Qkine’s “cell therapy grade” designation is intended to provide a clearer alternative to the often ambiguous “good manufacturing practice (GMP) grade” label for ancillary materials. Qkine uses the term for products manufactured under defined quality systems with extended testing, full traceability and regulatory documentation.
Animal Origin-Free Manufacturing Processes
Removing animal-derived components can reduce the risk of unintended contaminants and unwanted variability as teams move from research to clinical translation. Qkine’s recombinant proteins are manufactured using animal-free processes, helping promote consistency and scalable supply.
Supporting More Controlled, Scalable CGT Workflows
BioLife is already known for biopreservation media, human platelet lysate (HPL), fill-finish instrumentation and consumables. The strategic partnership with Qkine expands this portfolio, giving customers more options for tuning culture conditions and driving desired cell phenotypes, including persistence, durability, cytotoxicity, or memory-like characteristics.
The companies are also actively collaborating on packaging cytokines and growth factors in BioLife’s CellSeal® Connect Vial system. With the CGT field shifting decisively towards closed, automated systems to address fundamental economic constraints and challenges in reproducibility, product packaging compatible with these systems is becoming increasingly important. Closed manufacturing systems enable cell therapy production in lower grade cleanroom environments without compromising sterility, substantially reducing facility capital costs, labor intensity, and cost of goods while significantly increasing throughput capacity and batch success rates. Packaging cytokines and growth factors in the CellSeal® Connect system represents one more tool to enable cost efficiency and manufacturing consistency.
To learn more, check out the Family Brochure.
To talk with experts about cytokines, growth factors and integrated CGT workflows specific to your operation, contact the BioLife sales team.
