Thursday, 12 November 2026 09:00 AM
Company Update
Supporting the Centillion-led team, Pace® will help the design, development and manufacturing rollout of an integrated platform built for patients with rare and ultra-rare genetic diseases
MINNEAPOLIS, MN / ACCESS Newswire / November 12, 2026 / For people living with rare and ultra-rare diseases, traditional drug manufacturing models aren't built for personalized genetic medicine. Pace® Life Sciences, a division of Pace®, a Science and Technology Company, today announced its participation in a consortium led by Centillion Biosciences, Inc. selected by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) under its Genetic Medicines and Individualized Manufacturing for Everyone (GIVE) program to address the high cost of manufacturing these medications and improve accessibility for all who need them.
Today's RNA drug manufacturing focuses on large-scale production, typically thousands or more doses, which is labor-intensive, costly, and not conducive to personalized medicines. This initiative is focused on developing manufacturing approaches designed around small patient populations, leveraging the science needed to change that model by advancing automated, distributed manufacturing systems capable of producing RNA-based medicines with integrated quality control.
"We're proud to be part of this important initiative alongside organizations working to advance individualized genetic medicines," said Andy Fenny, President, Pace® Life Sciences. "For these therapies to become more accessible, manufacturing must evolve beyond traditional large-scale models. Pace® brings the scientific, manufacturing and quality expertise to help translate that vision into a practical platform designed for smaller patient populations."
The project will build on Centillion's GMP-qualified Biofoundry-in-a-Box™ (BiaB™) platform and patented continuous-flow technologies to create an integrated manufacturing system that can take a therapy from DNA input through RNA production and fill-finish, while incorporating quality testing directly into the process. The new platform is intended to support a distributed manufacturing model in which systems could be deployed closer to the patients who need these medicines.
From Design Through Manufacturing
Pace® Life Sciences is involved with designing and developing the integrated manufacturing platform through the build and proof-of-concept testing. These contributions will continue in later phases as the platform is expected to be installed at Pace® Life Sciences laboratories to support production. The real-world drug products by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children's Hospital, Miltenyi Biotec, HDT Bio, and Violet Pharmaceuticals represent different RNA molecules, lipid nanoparticle formulations and disease applications.
"Today's drug manufacturing process leads to long timelines and high costs for personalized medicines," said Peter Abbink, Ph.D., Boston Site Head, Pace® Life Sciences. "Putting manufacturing and quality into one integrated system that can produce a clinical drug product for a very small patient population becomes something we can realistically do, not just imagine."
Involvement by Pace® began ahead of the award announcement, through an ARPA-H partnering event that brought together industry and academic organizations to address the technical and manufacturing challenges of individualized genetic medicines.
The resulting Centillion-led consortium brings together expertise across genetic medicine development, engineering, manufacturing, analytical science, automation and quality. Participants include Pace® Life Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Triple Ring Technologies, Legomics, Molariti, HDT Bio, p-Chip and other specialist collaborators.
The long-term vision of GIVE is a distributed manufacturing network capable of producing individualized RNA medicines at or near the point of care.
For instances where medicine may be needed for only a handful of individuals, these innovations could mean the difference between a therapy that exists on paper and one that reaches them.
Peter Abbink, Ph.D., Boston Site Head at Pace® Life Sciences, and Centillion founder Harris Makatsoris recently discussed the program and the future of RNA manufacturing during an episode of The Biotech Voyager hosted by Benjamin McLeod.
Pace® is a portfolio company of Leonard Green & Partners and Los Angeles-based Aurora Capital Partners.
About Pace® Life Sciences
Pace® Life Sciences delivers scientific certainty to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical clients developing life-changing therapies. From early R&D and clinical trial materials production to analytical testing and commercial-stage support, Pace® works closely with clients to reduce risk, anticipate challenges, and keep critical programs moving forward. Across its network of U.S.-based facilities, Pace® also provides regulatory, quality, and laboratory operations support, helping clients strengthen compliance, and improve internal processes to address evolving business and scientific needs. By combining expertise, responsive service, and a partnership-led approach, Pace® helps clients move forward with greater clarity and confidence. Learn more at PACELIFESCIENCES.COM
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SOURCE: Pace Analytical