This collaboration broadens availability of the Expansify™ high-density cell culture platform by leveraging Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.’s well-established commercial and technical infrastructure.
Japan is an important center for regenerative medicine, cell therapy, and advanced biomanufacturing, making Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. an ideal partner for expanding access to our technology”— Christopher Thanos, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of XDemicsSAN RAFAEL, CA, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — XDemics Corporation, a California-based biotechnology firm that has created a cutting-edge, high-density cell culture system, and Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. today revealed a strategic distribution arrangement covering Japan.
Per the terms of the deal, Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. will sell and distribute XDemics’ Expansify™ high-density cultureware to biotech enterprises, cell and gene therapy developers, CDMOs, academic institutions, and research organizations across Japan. The two entities have initiated commercial onboarding and anticipate beginning customer engagement in Japan during October 2026.
This accord builds upon a multi-year relationship between the organizations. It merges XDemics’ natural, high-density cell respiration™ (HDCR™) cell culture technology with Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.’s extensive expertise as a supplier of cell culture and regenerative medicine products, its deep footprint in Japan’s biotechnology and academic sectors, and its technical sales capabilities in cell and gene therapy and biologics.
“Japan is an important center for regenerative medicine, cell therapy, and advanced biomanufacturing, making Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. an ideal partner for expanding access to our technology,” said Christopher Thanos, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of XDemics. “Their scientific expertise, customer relationships, and reputation for quality will help Japanese researchers and developers evaluate and adopt Expansify™ across a broad range of cell culture workflows. This agreement is an important step in XDemics’ international commercial expansion.”
Expansify™ is driven by XDemics’ High-Density Cell Respiration™ (HDCR™) platform, which is engineered to overcome two key limitations in traditional cell culture: insufficient oxygen delivery and stressful growth conditions. Its gas-permeable construction supplies oxygen directly to the cellular microenvironment without agitation or sparging, enabling shear-free cell proliferation and precise regulation of pericellular oxygen levels.
Depending on the cell type and workflow, the platform can achieve substantially higher cell densities compared to standard cultureware while preserving or enhancing cellular activity and quality. Expansify™’s repeating geometry also yields a uniform cellular microenvironment across different formats, facilitating predictable, linear scale-up and scale-down.
The cultureware conforms to a standard ANSI/SLAS footprint and works with liquid-handling systems, making it appropriate for automated workflows. These features may allow labs and production teams to produce more cells with less space and handling, while lowering process-development and scale-up risks.
"Japan's cell culture market is reaching a critical inflection point, driven by the practical application of regenerative medicine and cell and gene therapies. Expansify™, built on XDemics' uniquely valuable high oxygen-permeability technology, is a next-generation product that addresses customer demand for efficient, high-volume culture with assured quality. We are very pleased to bring this innovative technology to the Japanese market, and we look forward to working closely with XDemics to support researchers and developers as we contribute to the further advancement of regenerative medicine and related fields in Japan," said Hayao Tanaka, General Manager, S-BIO Business Division, Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.
The collaboration will initially prioritize establishing commercial access, technical support, and customer uptake in Japan, covering applications such as stem cell research, cell and gene therapy, biologics development, automated cell production, and industrial-scale cell manufacturing. The two parties also plan to explore possibilities for deeper technical collaboration, combining Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd's manufacturing know-how with XDemics' HDCR™ platform.
About XDemics Corporation
XDemics Corporation is developing the High-Density Cell Respiration™ platform to overcome the oxygen-delivery and shear-stress constraints of conventional cell culture systems. The platform enables direct control of pericellular oxygen and can achieve cell densities up to 100 times higher than standard cultureware, along with improved functional activity and quality.
XDemics’ Expansify™ respiring cultureware and Profusion™ bioreactor products, currently under development, use the HDCR platform to support workflows from early discovery through commercial production. XDemics holds an exclusive license to a broad intellectual-property portfolio from the California Institute of Technology and City of Hope, supplemented by internally developed IP. The company is based in San Rafael, California.
Expansify™ cultureware is currently for research use only.
For more information, visit www.xdemics.com.
About Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.
Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd. is a materials company headquartered in Tokyo, founded in 1932. Its S-BIO Business Division develops, manufactures, and supplies products for cell culture, three-dimensional culture, glycan analysis, microphysiological systems, and other biotechnology research applications. The division has a proven history of supplying cell culture materials to cell processing centers (CPCs), CDMOs, and research institutions throughout Japan, including contributions to the manufacturing of the world's first iPS cell-based regenerative medicine products. Through its technical expertise, product range, and established customer ties, the company serves biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic, and medical research organizations in Japan and globally.
For more information, visit www.sumibe.co.jp/english.
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Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.
Corporate Communication Dept., Corporate General Affairs Div.
Mike Hyatt
XDemics Corporation
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