Clever Culture Systems has received an order from the global biopharmaceutical company CSL for its APAS Independence automated microbiology platform.
Under the agreement, APAS Independence will be installed at CSL's Broadmeadows, Victoria site under a five-year lease arrangement.
The system will undergo evaluation and validation against existing microbiology quality control workflows and laboratory information systems as part of CSL's assessment process.
If the evaluation is successful, the platform could be deployed more broadly across CSL's manufacturing facilities in Australia, Europe and the US, supporting microbiology quality control operations within CSL’s global production network.
According to Clever Culture Systems, the order expands the number of major pharmaceutical companies that are either using or evaluating APAS Independence to eight.
Some of the pharma giants that are using the automated plate reading platform include AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Thermo Fisher Pharma Services (Patheon).
The company has positioned the technology as an AI-driven solution for automating the imaging, analysis and interpretation of microbiology culture plates used in environmental monitoring and quality control laboratories.
The announcement reflects continued commercial activity for APAS Independence within regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing environments, where automated microbiology technologies are being assessed for their ability to support laboratory efficiency and standardisation while maintaining compliance with quality requirements.
At the start of this year, Cleve Culture Systems also received a $1.07m R&D tax incentive for their automated microbiology work and platform.
