Over the last 2 years, Bluecrux has made landmark investments in adapting its Binocs technology for use in the cell and gene therapy (CGT) industry. Among other outcomes, Binocs has seen the appointment of dedicated specialists, the delivery of a groundbreaking autologous therapy slot allocation system, and radical enhancements to its AI-enabled algorithms to support the uniquely complex challenges of advanced therapy capacity planning. In this post, Adam Lester-George explores why this is such a priority for the company.
In the past, we have written extensively about the CGT industry and the role Binocs plays in supporting the manufacture and management of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). We have hosted round table discussions about the future of CGT supply chains, on commercialization, and industrialization, and the need for greater standardization across the sector. We’ve also addressed the complexities of managing CAR-T therapies, compared the unique challenges faced by therapy developers and CDMOs in the CGT industry, and outlined how the Binocs slot-picking technology helps improve the likelihood of patients being treated with autologous therapies.
All of this reflects the substantial and ongoing investment Bluecrux has made to align the Binocs platform with the distinct requirements and priorities of stakeholders in the advanced therapies sector. Over the last 2 years, this investment has seen our Product and Engineering team more than triple their commitment to developing solutions tailored to the needs of CGT developers, manufacturers, and treatment centers. It has also led us to appoint dedicated specialists to CGT-specific roles within the Binocs team, focused on collaborating with industry partners to refine our offerings.
Most recently, we have delivered a significant update to the Binocs capacity planning algorithm that enables our AI-enhanced calculation engine to produce estimates at the daily level. This unprecedented degree of granularity in capacity forecasting has been developed specifically with the personalized therapies manufacturing process in mind.
For example: when manufacturing autologous therapies, the product is tailor-made from the patient’s own cells. This is an inherently complex process with distinct time constraints and logistical challenges and, to accommodate unexpected changes, the production window is typically padded with buffer time. Through close collaboration with key industry players, we estimate that such buffers can constitute as much as 65% of all autologous production capacity! With the updated and enhanced advanced therapy capacity planning algorithm, however, Binocs dramatically reduces the need for so much unused time to blocked. This both enhances efficiency and translates to a significant increase in the number of patients who can be treated.
Indeed, our existing clients have reported a remarkable increase of more than 20% in the number of manufacturing slots made available due to these enhanced capacity planning capabilities. Such clients include the providers and CDMOs for multiple autologous therapies that are already licensed by or actively under review by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
When Binocs was originally developed, its main focus was on delivering a robust capacity management model to life science organizations. Almost a decade on, and we’re still committed to providing the most accurate and intelligent solutions for managing complex capacity planning and forecasting challenges, and CGT represents one of the biggest challenges out there!
By adapting our market-leading software to the needs of the advanced therapies space, we have not only approached the problem of slot management from an entirely original perspective and delivered unique and innovative solutions, we have also been able to directly support our clients in treating more patients, more effectively. Ultimately, this is why we are so invested in leveraging our significant expertise to identify new ways of helping to enhance outcomes in the cutting-edge CGT industry.
