Ori Biotech

Ori Biotech, established in 2015, is a key player in the cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing sector, with operations based in London and the Philadelphia/New Jersey area. The company was co-founded by Dr. Farlan Veraitch, an expert in CGT bioprocessing from University College London, and Professor Chris Mason. Their goal was to address the significant manufacturing challenges that make revolutionary CGT treatments—which have the potential to cure cancers and rare diseases—inaccessible to most patients due to high costs and production complexities.

The company is led by CEO Jason C. Foster, a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. He joined as an investor during the 2019 seed round and subsequently took the helm as CEO, compelled by the company's mission to enable widespread patient access to these life-saving therapies. His background includes scaling a specialty pharma business, Indivior, from a small team to a publicly listed company with over a thousand employees.

Ori Biotech's core offering is the IRO platform, a next-generation manufacturing system designed to automate, digitize, and standardize the CGT production workflow. This microwave-sized, stackable system combines proprietary hardware, including a novel bioreactor and sterile connection technology, with software, data analytics, and consumables. The platform is engineered to reduce manufacturing costs by up to 50%, cut labor needs by as much as 70%, and shorten processing times by about 25%. By capturing data every seven seconds, it offers deep process insights, allowing for greater control and consistency.

The business model is centered on providing this full-stack platform to a range of clients, including therapy developers, contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), and academic research institutions. Ori enables these partners to seamlessly transition from preclinical process discovery and R&D through to commercial-scale GMP manufacturing on a single, flexible platform. To facilitate adoption, Ori launched the Lightspeed Early Access Program (LEAP) in 2022, providing select partners like Charles River Laboratories and MD Anderson Cancer Center early access to the technology. The company has established numerous partnerships with industry leaders such as Fresenius Kabi, CellGenix, and MaxCyte to ensure its platform integrates smoothly into the broader CGT ecosystem. Having raised over $100 million in a Series B round in January 2022, bringing its total funding to over $280 million, Ori Biotech is now transitioning from pre-commercialization to the full market launch of the IRO platform.

Keywords: cell and gene therapy manufacturing, CGT automation, IRO platform, Farlan Veraitch, Jason C. Foster, bioprocessing, closed system manufacturing, automated cell processing, CGT scalability, GMP manufacturing, therapy developers, CDMO solutions, preclinical to commercial, life sciences manufacturing, personalized medicine technology, bioreactor systems, manufacturing data analytics, cell therapy cost reduction, gene therapy production, biomanufacturing platform, ATMP manufacturing, sterile fluid transfer, process analytical technology (PAT), modular manufacturing, CAR-T manufacturing