Bioarchitech, Oxford, UK, an immuno-oncology therapeutics start-up company announces that it has secured a material license from the European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures (ECACC), UKHSA for a mammalian cell line to be developed as a scalable and high yield viral manufacturing platform and for the vector backbone of BA-V151, a preclinical stage candidate being developed as a treatment for metastatic cancers.

The licensed cell line will allow Bioarchitech to develop an advanced manufacturing platform to enable clinical studies of BA-V151. The cell line is pre-adapted to suspension conditions, improving scalability over the use of traditional adherent cell lines commonly used in viral manufacturing. Bioarchitech plans to further optimise the platform by adapting the cell line to serum-free growth conditions to enhance regulatory suitability. Following optimisation, the company intends to establish a research cell bank for transfer to a contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) partner for further testing and process development.

In addition, the licensed Vaccinia virus will serve as the backbone vector for BA-V151. In preclinical studies, BA-V151 has demonstrated promising therapeutic potential across a range of solid cancers. The material license enables continued development of BA-V151 toward regulatory assessment and clinical validation.

“This licensing agreement enables Bioarchitech to advance our promising preclinical results toward regulatory assessment and clinical evaluation,” said Kevin Maskell, Chief Executive Officer of Bioarchitech. “UKHSA has been an excellent partner, providing licensing terms that give us the confidence and operational certainty to scale BA-V151 through clinical development and, if successful, into commercialisation. This agreement allows us to remain focused on innovation while building a robust and scalable manufacturing platform.”

Bioarchitech plans to leverage the technology to develop BA-V151 across multiple common cancer indications. The agreement complements the company’s broader intellectual property strategy, which includes proprietary patents protecting the BA-V151 technology.

“Supporting Bioarchitech with their exciting development to address the need for new treatment of metastatic cancers, is part of UKHSA’s remit to work with partners to protect public health and reduce the burden of disease. We will follow the progress of this project with interest” said Judith Parker, Head of Business Development, at ECACC, UKHSA.