OrganaBio has announced the acquisition of substantially all operating assets of San Diego-based Excellos, a move aimed at creating a bicoastal cell therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) in the United States.

Following the acquisition, a newly formed subsidiary, Excellos Labs LLC, will oversee operations in San Diego. The integration combines the manufacturing, cell isolation and cryopreservation capabilities of both organisations while expanding their geographic reach and operational scale.

The combined platform is expected to provide cell therapy developers with a broader suite of services spanning preclinical research through commercial supply. OrganaBio said the acquisition strengthens its ability to support developers with manufacturing redundancy, improved access to starting materials and a unified quality framework across multiple facilities.

Under the expanded structure, OrganaBio’s Miami headquarters will continue serving as the company’s East Coast hub, housing adult leukapheresis operations through its HemaCenter subsidiary, birth tissue and cord blood sourcing through GaiaGift, ISO 7 cGMP cleanrooms, process development, quality control and analytical testing, PBMC isolation and cryopreservation services.

On the West Coast, the company already operates cell processing and cryopreservation laboratories in San Francisco and Irvine, California. The acquisition now adds Excellos’ downtown San Diego facility, which includes five ISO 7 cGMP cleanroom suites supporting autologous and allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing, cell isolation and enrichment, cell expansion and fill-finish services.

OrganaBio confirmed that the core Excellos team has been retained to ensure continuity for existing customer programmes and maintain ongoing operations without disruption.

The company said the acquisition addresses a major operational challenge in the cell therapy sector, where dependence on a single provider for PBMC isolation and cryopreservation can create supply chain vulnerabilities, while using multiple vendors can lead to inconsistencies in quality and process execution.

With the combined infrastructure, OrganaBio now offers bicoastal cGMP manufacturing, PBMC isolation for clinical trial samples and cryopreservation of patient leukopaks under a single quality framework. According to the company, this structure is expected to improve reliability, reduce operational risk and accelerate the path from development to patient access.

The merged customer base includes several of the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies along with numerous public and private biotechnology firms. Programmes supported across the platform primarily focus on cancer and autoimmune diseases and include both autologous and allogeneic cell therapies in clinical and commercial development.

Justin Irizarry, Chief Executive Officer of OrganaBio, said combining the infrastructure and expertise of both organisations will allow the company to deliver faster and more reliable support to cell therapy developers and patients awaiting advanced treatments. He added that operational continuity for existing customers will remain the company’s immediate priority as integration progresses.

Tom VanCott, Chief Executive Officer of Excellos, said the acquisition ensures continuity for Excellos customers while providing access to expanded services, geographic reach and additional material sourcing capabilities, including cord blood.

Both organizations will continue operating independently in the near term while integration activities are carried out over the next 12 months. The companies said the focus will remain on maintaining operational quality, expanding services and supporting growth across the combined platform.