Bracco Imaging, a global pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and markets innovative healthcare solutions, announced an upgrade of its manufacturing site in Geneva to support clinical-grade GMP manufacturing of its cell therapy-enabling microbubble technology, building on its previously announced investments in the site since 2019. Commercial access to the GMP-grade cell selection and activation product will be ready by the middle of 2027.
The upgrade will expand Bracco’s internal manufacturing capabilities for its streptavidin-conjugated lipid-based microbubble platform.
Today, most cell therapy workflows rely on 40-year-old magnetic bead technologies for cell enrichment, a key manufacturing process. That traditional approach requires multiple time-consuming steps that can introduce regulatory and quality challenges.
Bracco’s innovative microbubbles can both separate and activate specific cell subtypes in a single step, streamlining manufacturing for a variety of cell therapy modalities that have struggled toward commercial scalability.
The facility modernization includes installation of automated compounding equipment, new purification systems, and an open Restricted Access Barrier System (RABS) to enhance product protection during aseptic operations.
The revamp will enable larger batch production of the streptavidin-conjugated microbubbles and improve process monitoring and manufacturing control. All process development and engineering activities are being performed internally through close collaboration among Bracco’s manufacturing, quality control, safety and biology, and quality assurance teams.
Bracco’s Geneva-based R&D facility has maintained GMP certification from Swissmedic, the Swiss health authority, for nearly three decades. The newly announced upgrades are designed to align the site with evolving GMP expectations while supporting ongoing nonclinical studies and preparing the company for scaled production of ancillary materials used in advanced cell therapy workflows.
