Draper lands $7.3M ARPA-H grant to kill the cold chain for cell therapies
What's the deal? DraperDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → received an other transaction award of up to $7.3 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) for Phase 1 of the agency's BioStabilization Systems (BoSS) program. The grant funds work to produce, store, and transport cell-based biologic medicines at room temperature. ARPA-H has committed up to $87 million across the four-year program.
Who's involved? Draper is the administrative lead on the Reversible Ambient Temperature (RAB) team, with LikardaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → as technical lead. Other performers include Case BioscienceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, CPSI BiotechDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Fresenius KabiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, MiNK TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Sabrina Spencer of the University of ColoradoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The problem: Biologics are made from living tissue, so they are fragile and must stay frozen in an unbroken "cold chain" from factory to patient. That chain is expensive, complex, and hard to scale, limiting these treatments to a handful of specialized medical centers.
What's the endgame? BoSS aims to make cell therapies as easy to store and ship as aspirin — a "200-degree leap" from -196°C to room temperature. Likarda will lead the biostabilization strategy, while Draper builds automated instruments to scale the process for clinical manufacturing.
"The goal of this program is to expand patient access by eliminating the deep freeze requirement," said Kathryn Brinsfield, vice president and general manager of biotechnology systems at Draper.
Why now? Teams will progress through a four-year, multi-phase structure, with performance measured against increasingly strict benchmarks for cell viability, production speed, and shelf-life stability.
The signal: At $7.3 million, this grant sits in the 95th percentile of all security-sector grant rounds in the US, reflecting rising government appetite to fund biotech infrastructure that could broaden access to cutting-edge therapies.
Read more: prnewswire.com
Image credit: Draper
