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Everyone wants to know about the final cell therapy product. Far fewer are interested in what the cells are grown in. But according to Compass Biomedical CEO Kim Brown, that culture material can quietly shape the quality and consistency of everything that happens downstream. Her pitch to a field racing toward the clinic is that what you feed your cells matters much more than most developers realise.
- Compass Biomedical started in 2006 using platelets for wound care, burns and sternal closures, then pivoted around 2013 to human platelet lysate (HPL) for T cells and NK cells in cancer therapies and MSCs for orthopedics.
- Its HPL is fibrinogen-depleted, completely xeno-free and heparin-free — avoiding the precipitate issues that heparin-containing media can create as cells grow.
- The regulatory pull is toward human-to-human inputs: the FDA doesn't want animal-to-human components in cells that are washed and injected into patients, accelerating the move to defined, xeno-free materials.
- Compass Biomedical's approach means little difference between their research-grade and GMP-grade product, so customers can move into clinical trials with less testing and a more seamless, translational path.
- The catch is timing — many developers are already locked into the media they started with, making it hard to switch even when a better option exists.
- Her advice when choosing a culture-material supplier: find the most efficient, effective product for the specific cell types you're growing.
Onyx caught up with Kim Brown, CEO of Compass Biomedical, at the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy 2026 Annual Meeting in Dublin to talk about the unglamorous ingredient that can make or break a cell therapy, and why xeno-free is becoming the default.
With thanks to the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy for welcoming Onyx Live to Dublin.
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