Sanofi using Berkeley Lights’ tech to catalyze cell line development

Berkeley Lights, Inc. (BLI)​ is a digital cell biology company developing and commercializing platforms for the discovery, development, and delivery of cell-based products and therapies.

BLI today announced that Sanofi has purchased its Beacon OptoFluidic Platform to accelerate its cell line development (CLD) process.

According to the company, pilot study data revealed that the Beacon platform “quickly and efficiently”​ identified target secreting clones.

“The benefit of using the Beacon platform is the speed in which it can identify the top producing, stable clones to be taken into scale up,”​ Keith Breinlinger, CTO of Berkeley Lights told us. “In just 5 days, the Beacon platform can identify the top 48 clones."​

Shiv Krishnan, head, technology platforms, global business development and licensing at Sanofi said: “Increasingly, automation, digitization and, miniaturization are becoming important business drivers in the discovery of medicines."​

"The Beacon automated technology will help us to conduct cell line development faster, and hopefully, reduce drug development timelines,​" Krishnan told us.

"We are always hunting for technologies and tools to will help us bring important medicines to patients faster,"​ he added.

According to BLI, the Beacon platform – which is intended for research purposed only – is apt for cell line development, antibody discovery (including direct B-cell workflows), gene editing, and antibody engineering workflows.

"Customers are purchasing for a variety of use cases,"​ Breinlinger explained.

The company has several other agreements with companies, including Pfizer​, Bayer​, and Teva​, among others.