Miltenyi Biotec India and BIRAC sign LoI to advance India’s cell and gene therapy ecosystem

In a significant step toward strengthening India’s leadership in cutting-edge biotherapeutics, Miltenyi Biotec India and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) have signed a strategic Letter of Intent (LoI) at the BIO International Convention 2025, which opened this week in Boston.

The LoI outlines a multi-pronged collaboration aimed at propelling India’s capabilities in Cell and Gene therapy (CGT) by capacity building, advancing clinical research and to solve unmet medical needs by local manufacturing of Cell Therapies.

Through this partnership, Miltenyi Biotec and BIRAC aim to:

• Build national capabilities and upskill scientific talent by implementing structured training and capacity-building programs for clinicians, researchers, and technicians in CGT manufacturing, analytics, and quality control.
• Expand translational research efforts through co-development of academic and multi-center studies, focusing on next-generation therapies to solve India’s unmet medical needs in malignancies, autoimmune diseases and rare diseases.
• Establish Point-of-Care (PoC) CAR-T centers across India using automated manufacturing platforms such as Miltenyi’s CliniMACS Prodigy system, enabling cost-effective and scalable access to personalized CGT treatments.

The initiative will also promote targeted cell therapy research and support local innovation through the identification and mentoring of Indian startups. This aligns with the Make in India mission by enhancing domestic production of critical and manufacturing components, and by supporting the development of national CGT Centers of Excellence.