BioLife Solutions, Inc. announced that it has launched a new line of high capacity controlled rate freezers (HCRF), with an initial shipment to a leading cell therapy company. The freezer will be a critical component in this customer's cold chain management of several allogeneic cell therapies in development.
Todd Berard, BioLife's Chief Marketing Officer, commented, "This product launch expands our Cryogenic Freezer Platform with high capacity controlled rate freezers designed specifically to meet the needs of cell and gene therapy developers. We're very pleased to support this and several other pending customers by providing a critical cold chain management platform to protect their high value biologic materials that require precise control of the critical freezing process and subsequent frozen storage."
Key features and benefits of the High Capacity Rate Freezer product line include:
- Large Volume Freezing - Capacity to freeze up to several thousand cryovials or several hundred cryobags in cassettes in one run, saving time and ensuring consistency in freeze runs.
- Quality Assurance Data Management - Ability to chart samples by chamber and program temperature to ensure freeze run consistency.
- Touch Screen Controller - Includes 6 pre-set run programs and the option to create custom freeze run profiles.
- Multiple Fan and Probe Design - Ensures uniform temperature within the payload cavity.
- Precision Control – Temperature range of -180 to + 50°C, with freeze rates of 0.01 to 99.9°C per minute.
- Innovative Racking Systems – Enables flexible and efficient payload loading and storage.
- Reduced operating cost – Less liquid nitrogen required vs. competing products.
Roderick de Greef, Chief Financial and Operating Officer at BioLife Solutions, remarked, "The team at CBS has worked hard to complete the design, manufacturing and validation of this new and differentiated controlled rate freezer. We have said that new product introductions are key to driving gross margin expansion within our freezer line, and this is a step toward that goal, as we expect unit gross margins on this product family in the mid to high 50% range, with average selling prices in the $450,000 to 750 range.
