Cellares and Papillon Therapeutics partnered to scale manufacturing for Papillon’s CRISPR-based hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell therapy PPL-001 for Friedreich’s ataxia. The arrangement centers on transferring the therapy onto Cellares’s cell shuttle manufacturing platform, supporting an end-to-end approach through key development and clinical supply stages. Papillon’s program uses CRISPR genome editing to remove pathogenic GAA repeats in the FXN gene within HSPCs, aiming to restore production of frataxin. The therapy is described as a one-time treatment, with manufacturing steps intended to support delivery via engrafted stem cells in bone marrow. The partnership signals continued CDMO specialization in genome-edited cell therapies, with a specific focus on scaling processes for complex, rare-disease programs that require rigorous control over editing, potency, and release criteria.