Ori Biotech has announced a strategic partnership with a leading UK medical contract manufacturer to support delivery of its GMP-ready IRO® consumable family to cell and gene therapy developers worldwide.
The leader in advanced cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing technology will strengthen its existing relationship with Europlaz to meet growing demand from leading academic medical centres, CDMOs and biopharma companies as they move cell therapy programmes from clinical development towards approval and commercial scale.
IRO® consumables are clean injection moulded and clean assembled in an ISO 7 cleanroom environment under a rigorous ISO:13485 quality management system.
The partnership establishes a flexible, scalable and uninterrupted manufacturing infrastructure to meet ongoing supply and future development needs of Ori’s customers, which is critical to clinical and commercial success.
Recent consumable shortages elsewhere in the industry have shown how supply chain risk can derail development timelines, commercial launch readiness and put patients at risk.
For Ori’s partners, security of supply is a critical factor, so the London and Philadelphia-based company has built its operations accordingly, with a qualified and actively monitored supply chain, formal business continuity plans and a structured supply risk management programme that spans suppliers, sites, logistics and critical materials globally.
“Cell therapies are made for one individual patient, so there is no room for a gap in the supply chain that derails that patient’s treatment,” explained Jason C. Foster, CEO of Ori Biotech.
“A delay in a single critical consumable can mean a delay in treatment for someone whose life is in the balance. That is why continuity of supply is a such high priority for us.”
He continued: “Our IRO® consumables are produced to GMP-grade standards through our manufacturing partner Europlaz, with robust quality oversight and control at every stage.
“They have significant experience supplying leading global bioprocessing companies, and together we are expanding manufacturing capacity to be ready for significant global volumes as part of several new partnerships we have signed in 2026. Developers and manufacturers can count on receiving the IRO consumables they depend on, consistently and when they need them, so they can focus on getting their therapies to the patients in need.”
Security of supply
Europlaz has provided development and design for manufacturing services to Ori since 2023, with this latest partnership set to create dedicated cleanroom space, access to world class equipment, material holding and best-in-class inventory management.
Manufacturing resilience is only as strong as the quality systems that underpin it. The two companies apply defined quality metrics, structured inspection arrangements, monitoring of particulates and bioburden, together with oversight across the upstream supply chain, with documented change controls so that partners are immediately informed of any change that could affect their process.
Supplier tracking and reporting systems give ongoing visibility into supply chain performance and highlight opportunities to improve lead times and reduce costs, and these controls are designed to support partners in supplier qualification and regulatory submissions.
Our simple goal is to make sure the quality consumables Ori, and their customers, need are available and fit for use on time, every time. We have a long track record of helping companies scale up production across medtech and life sciences and are proud to work with Jason and his team to deliver flexible capacity, industry-leading quality and ongoing engineering support from our team of experts.
Ian Goodacre, Technical Director of Europlaz
As more IRO® partners advance toward commercial manufacture, this partnership reflects the maturity of Ori’s global operations and a shared mission to deliver the operational infrastructure needed to enable widespread patient access to potentially life-saving cell and gene therapies, both consistently and without interruption.
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