Draper Lands $7.3M ARPA-H Grant to Eliminate Cold-Chain for Biologics

The Reversible Ambient Temperature (RAB) team, featuring technical lead Likarda alongside partners like MiNK Therapeutics and CPSI Biotech, aims to bridge the gap between fragile living tissue and shelf-stable distribution. By shifting from the standard -196°C environment to ambient conditions, the program targets a fundamental transformation in how cancer drugs and cell-based biologics are manufactured and shipped to patients.

Kathryn Brinsfield, vice president at Draper, noted that current cold-chain requirements render these treatments prohibitively expensive and inaccessible for many. The four-year ARPA-H initiative focuses on two core technical challenges: mastering cellular stress responses during storage and automating the manufacturing workflow to ensure these stabilizers can be scaled for clinical use. As the team works toward increasingly stringent viability benchmarks, the goal remains to make life-saving therapies as logistically simple to handle as common pharmaceuticals.