Xcell Biosciences Announces Two New International Distributors And Multiple International System Sales For The Avatar System

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xcell Biosciences, Inc., today announced it has signed agreements with two international distributors and made a number of international sales for its Avatar™ system.

Cambridge Bioscience is now the exclusive United Kingdom distributor, with multiple system sales to date to Cancer Research UK, where the Avatar system will be used by the Carlos Caldas lab in their functional genomics studies of breast cancer.

In Japan, BioStream has been selected as a distributor for the full line of Xcell products. Several system sales have already been booked for Kyushu University, where the Avatar system will be used by Koichi Akashi’s lab, which specializes in studying immunology, hematology and cancer stem cells.

Brian Feth, Chief Executive Officer of Xcell Bio, commented: “We have seen significant customer demand since starting the Avatar system early access program in March of this year and are proud to see the first multiple system sales coming from outside the US. These instruments are going to key opinion leaders in their respective fields and complement the systems already sold in the US. We’re excited to work with our new distributors overseas and to add distributors in additional markets as we grow our sales and extend the reach of our innovative technology to more labs around the world.”

About the Avatar System

The Avatar system, including a benchtop and stackable instrument and consumables for a number of applications, enables a new generation of cell-based assays by allowing for complete control of key physiological conditions found in the microenvironments of cells, including settings for pressure, oxygen, temperature and CO2 levels. The system is a part of a complete workflow and also includes application specific substrates and reagents. In addition to enabling culture of difficult samples such as tumor biopsies and primary samples, the system overcomes limitations of traditional cell culture to generate results that exhibit the phenotypic, genomic and proteomic characteristics of the native sample.

For more information, visit www.xcellbio.com.

About Xcell Biosciences, Inc.

Xcell Biosciences, Inc., is developing revolutionary products and workflows for life science and translational research that reproduce physiologically relevant conditions to enable more meaningful, biologically relevant experiments. The company’s tools empower scientists to obtain accurate and actionable results in important fields such as cancer research, biomarker discovery, lead candidate selection and optimization, stem cell research and regenerative medicine, and immunotherapy drug development. Xcell’s first product, the Avatar™ system, opens the door for a new generation of cell-based assays by allowing for complete control of key physiological conditions found in cellular microenvironments. In addition to enabling culture of difficult samples such as tumor biopsies and primary samples, the system overcomes limitations of traditional cell culture to generate results that exhibit the phenotypic, genomic and proteomic characteristics of the native sample. Based in San Francisco, Xcell Biosciences has raised more than $5M from Viking Global, DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and HBM Genomics, as well as a number of other angel investors and funds.