PBS Biotech Signs Deal With Stemcell

Supply pact first for bioreactor company since $10M funding.

PBS Biotech Inc. is engaging in a supply partnership that will make its PBS-MINI Bioreactor available to researchers through Stemcell Technologies Inc.

Camarillo-based PBS is a manufacturer of single-use bioreactors that can be scaled to any stage of a cell’s culture process, from research and development all the way up to commercial production.

PBS’s partnership will help researchers that want to scale up human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) cultures, which are vital for potential cell-based therapies, drug discovery, disease modeling and pharmaceutical applications, according to the National Library of Medicine.

A key factor of the partnership is the PBSMINI’s compatibility with a product family of Stemcell’s involving cell-culture media and supplements known as TeSR.

“Stemcell is thrilled to partner with PBS Biotech to share their single-use bioreactor technology and our specialized 3D media. Helping scientists to generate a large number of high-quality cells and scale up their operations will ultimately enable them to reach their research goals sooner,” Allen Eaves, chief executive and president of Stemcell Technologies, said in a statement.

The deal with Stemcell Technologies marks the first partnership PBS has secured since it raised $10 million via a private funding round with BroadOak Capital Partners last August. The company plans to use the money to widen its portfolio of bioreactor systems.

“PBS Biotech is excited to work with Stemcell to offer innovative solutions for robust scale-up of hPSCs,” Brian Lee, the chief executive and co-founder of PBS Biotech, said in a statement.