BBG Advanced Therapies, a subdivision of nonprofit BioBridge Global (BBG), announced a partnering with Kite, a Gilead organization and worldwide leader in cell therapy, to deploy BBG Advanced Therapies' Mobile Leukapheresis Center (MLC) in Texas, marking an important milestone in how patients access Kite's CAR T-cell therapies, which are individualized cancer treatments made from a patient's own cells.
Kite has supported innovator CAR T-cell therapies, transforming the outlook for patients with various blood cancers. Operating in Texas, the MLC is a first-of-its-kind platform that brings the initial T-cell collection step predominantly to patients in their communities, aligning with Kite's strategy to scale access to cell therapy and reach more qualified people closer to home. By meeting patients where they are, this model lowers travel and caregiver challenges, cuts logistical pathways, and supports a significant hurdle to wider adoption of well-developed therapies.
"Kite has treated more than 34,500 patients with CAR T-cell therapy more than any other company yet only about 2 in 10 eligible patients in the U.S. receive these treatments today," said Adrienne B. Mendoza, MHA, Chief Operating Officer of BBG Advanced Therapies. "That gap underscores the need for new access models. Kite's experience building one of the world's most advanced cell therapy ecosystems makes it an ideal collaborator as we expand the infrastructure needed to bring these potentially curative therapies closer to more eligible patients in Texas."
Once the preliminary T-cell gathering or leukapheresis is complete, the T-cells are then sent to a Kite facility, where a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) gene is added and where the cells multiply. After a limited period, the patient's cells are sent back to an Authorized Treatment Center, where the patient obtains a one-time infusion.
According to Towards Healthcare, the adoptive T-cell therapies market is projected to experience significant growth, with estimates suggesting the market size will increase from USD 10.69 billion in 2026 to approximately USD 54.5 billion by 2035, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.84% from 2026 to 2035, driven by adoptive T-cell therapies are immunotherapeutic approaches in which T lymphocytes with antitumor activity are inaccessible, expanded, and genetically modified ex vivo before being reinfused to eliminate cancer cells.
Adoptive T cell therapy includes the ex vivo selection and development of effector cells for the management of patients with tumors. Adaptive T cell therapy offers extremely selected T cells of defined phenotype, specificity, and purpose that may influence their biological behavior in vivo. Adoptive T cell therapy provides not only translational openings but also a means to address significant issues in the emerging field of cancer immunotherapy.
Because these treatments involve a patient's own cells, precision, consistency, and chain-of-identity are non-negotiable. BBG advanced therapies confirms that each collection meets advanced quality standards and is fully integrated into Kite's GMP producing workflow, reinforcing the strength and reliability of the end-to-end supply chain.
For Texans and for areas around the world watching this model, this partnership demonstrates how novel infrastructure unlocks access to advanced medicine. It shows how mobile, decentralized collection supports allowing more patients to access cell therapy over time, so that transformative therapies are not restricted by geography.
The Texas deployment serves as a significant proof-of-concept model for additional markets, signalling how mobile collection infrastructure helps the continuous growth of cell and gene therapies while keeping the quality and consistency needed for these challenging and targeted medicines.
The novel subsidiary of San Antonio-based nonprofit BioBridge Worldwide, BBG Advanced Therapies, offers novel and custom services to speed up the advancement of cell and gene therapies. BBG advanced therapies characterised a fully integrated and custom portfolio of innovative services, involving the collection and processing of starting materials, testing, clinical trials support, and biomanufacturing solutions.
BioBridge Global (BBG) is a San Antonio-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit healthcare services enterprise that provides different solutions via its nonprofit subsidiaries South Texas Blood & Tissue, QualTex Laboratories, BBG Advanced Therapies, and The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation. BioBridge Worldwide offers products and solutions in blood resource management, donated umbilical cord blood, cellular therapy, and human tissue, as well as testing of blood, plasma, and tissue products for clients in the United States and worldwide. The enterprise allows for well-developed research in the field of regenerative medicine and advanced therapies by offering access to starting materials, testing services, and biomanufacturing and clinical trials support.
A recent report by Towards Healthcare highlights that the adoptive T-cell therapies market is witnessing growth because adoptive T-cell therapy has massive strength to improve antitumor immunity, augment vaccine effectiveness, and limit graft-versus-host disease. Adoptive T-cell therapy, including the autologous or allogeneic transplant of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes or genetically adapted T cells expressing novel T-cell receptors or chimeric antigen receptors, has shown promise in the management of cancer patients, leading to durable responses and, in some cases, cure. Technological development in genomics, computational biology, immunology, and cell manufacturing has brought the aspiration of personalized therapies for tumour patients closer to reality.
