SpectaCell launches with €6 million to transform drug development

SpectaCell, a new company spun out from imec, the VIB research institute and Ghent University, has announced its official launch with €6 million in seed financing.

The company is developing a cell analysis platform intended to accelerate development of immune therapies, by allowing researchers to more rapidly see how treatments affect individual cells.

"Immunotherapies are redefining the future of medicine, opening new ways to treat cancer and diseases of the immune system, yet predicting which candidates will work in patients and producing them consistently remain major challenges," commented imec on the launch of the spin-out.

"Developers need a clearer view of what a treatment actually does, earlier in the process. Slow, fragmented testing can leave critical gaps in that understanding and delay decisions while patients wait."

To this end SpectaCell is combining chip-based imaging with data analysis to track large numbers of individual cells and their interactions directly, at high resolution and over time, without fluorescent labels that can interfere with cell behaviour. The company envisages an easy-to-use, cartridge-based instrument designed to deliver these insights in hours rather than days.

"SpectaCell brings together disruptive semiconductor technology, an experienced team and a major commercial opportunity in drug development and manufacturing," said Benoit Devogelaere from the imec.xpand venture capital fund. "With applications across cell therapies, T-cell engagers and other advanced treatments, we see the potential to set a new industry standard and build a globally competitive life-sciences business."

Breakthrough medicines need breakthrough tools

Imec has a track record in cell imaging  and analysis techniques, with previous research into lensless imaging and high-throughput flow cytometry. In 2021 it unveiled a photonic-chip-based device designed to allow lensless fluorescence microscopy, as a means to detect superbugs in a cost-effective optics-based test.

SpectaCell is targeting pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and specialist manufacturers worldwide. It will develop a single platform for use from early research and process development through to routine manufacturing quality checks. This should help researchers to compare drug candidates; development teams to improve production processes; and manufacturers to assess whether each batch meets the required performance standards.

SpectaCell’s ambition is to set a new industry standard across multiple types of therapy, building a global business around an essential, recurring need, said the company.

"Breakthrough medicines need breakthrough tools," commented SpectaCell CEO and co-founder Tony Montoye.

"Researchers need to know much earlier which candidates deserve further investment and why. We are building a new standard in cell analysis: detailed insight, results within hours and a simple workflow that connects research with manufacturing. Together with our biopharma partners, we will turn that vision into a platform for developing better treatments more efficiently. And ultimately, that is what we want to make possible for patients: better medicines, sooner."