The company that created the APAS Independence technology has landed a deal with Bristol Myers Squibb. The deal surrounds the company’s technology that removes the need for manual plate reading in cleanrooms. However, the road to this landmark win was not smooth sailing.
Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Clever Culture Systems (CCS) provides automation solutions to microbiology laboratories. The company’s Automated Plate Assessment System, or “APAS” (registered trademark) Independence, uses artificial intelligence and machine learning software to automate the imaging, analysis and interpretation of microbiology culture plates. The system can handle 200 plates an hour.
Being based in Australia, the company has made huge strides internationally over the years, with Thermo Fisher Scientific becoming the exclusive US distributor in 2021. Meaning APAS Independence has been around in some form for years, but back in January 2023, the company struck up an agreement with AstraZeneca.
To understand the importance of the AstraZeneca deal, it must be understood that prior to this, the company’s targeted market was clinical microbiology. “This means selling into clinical diagnostic labs in a hospital setting or private laboratory like Sonic,” CEO Brent Barnes told The Australian.
However, over time, it became apparent that the technology was not enough of a game-changer in this field to thrive. “Truthfully, we’ve had a false start where we spent 10 years and around A$50 million developing this technology, which is automated agar culture plate readers to launch into the clinical microbiology market,” Barnes added.
Other top 10 pharmaceutical companies are expected to engage with LBT following the AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb success
All this changed in 2023, when AstraZeneca began funding the development of an APAS Pharma analysis module (APAS Pharma). This new software would be designed specifically for automated quality control in pharmaceutical manufacturing environments. A significantly different application to clinical microbiology.
This pharmaceutical APAS application would go on to be tested at AstraZeneca sites. Initial testing focused on environmental monitoring (EM) plates, sterility test plates, as well as microbial limits and water testing plates.
These tests culminated in the launch of APAS PharmaQC in March 2024, a business change that led to a name change from LBT Innovations to Clever Culture Systems in the following November.
This pharma-grade plate reading system was picked up by AstraZeneca in the August of 2024, following its success. This big-name endorsement must have drawn eyes, because in October 2024, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) bought into the technology following months of evaluation. BMS are interested in CCS’ 90mm culture plates, but also a 55mm contact culture plate that it is working with CCS on, with further evaluations ongoing in 2025.
As of 25th June, with CCS’ latest business update, the company states that the technology remains the only US FDA-cleared artificial intelligence technology for automated culture plate reading.
The company seems to be targeting large multinational pharmaceutical giants as part of its pivoted new strategy for growth.
Automated systems like this align strongly with the goals and requirements outlined in the new EU GMP Annex 1, which governs the manufacture of sterile medicinal products and is a global benchmark for manufacturing pharmaceuticals. If this technology can help with compliance by reducing observer bias, speeding up results, and creating a great resource for documentation, the only way is up.
“Other top 10 pharmaceutical companies are expected to engage with LBT following the AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb success,” the company stated in a recent update.
