Melbourne-based biotechnology company Celleo has received a 2026 Australian Good Design Award for its Larkem V40 system, which automates vial filling in cell therapy manufacturing.
The Larkem V40 was named a Good Design Award Winner in the Product Design (Medical and Scientific) category. Celleo said the system is designed to automate one of the final manual stages of cell therapy production, filling up to 40 vials at once inside a sealed, single-use kit.
Cell therapies such as CAR-T treatments require complex manufacturing processes, with many therapies made from an individual patient’s own cells. According to Celleo, manufacturing capacity has become a limiting factor in expanding access to these treatments.
The company said vial filling has traditionally been performed manually inside high-grade cleanrooms, with individual vials drawn up and pipetted one at a time. Celleo said its system can perform the process in minutes with consistent volumes while keeping the cells within a sealed kit.
The Good Design Awards jury described the system as an “innovative solution addressing a critical unmet need in cell and gene therapy manufacturing”, noting its closed and automated approach to vial filling and reduced reliance on high-grade cleanrooms.
“Larkem exists because the people making these therapies told us vial filling was the step they could not scale,” said David Kneen, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Celleo.
“This award recognises a team that took a hard manufacturing problem and designed a better way through it,” he said.
Celleo said the V40 was developed following more than 100 interviews with scientists and operators involved in cell therapy manufacturing. Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Mark Rob said the design incorporated feedback on areas including single-use packaging and the system’s user interface.
“Everything about the V40 design … evolved out of extensive voice of customer,” Rob said.
The Larkem V40 is assembled in Melbourne, while its single-use kits are manufactured in Victoria before assembly, packaging and sterilisation are completed in Singapore. Celleo said V40 systems have been installed at facilities in the United States and Europe operated by a biopharmaceutical multinational producing CAR-T therapies.
The Australian Good Design Awards were established in 1958 and are judged by an independent jury of more than 100 Australian and international design experts. Celleo’s award will be formally recognised at the Good Design Awards ceremony at ICC Sydney on 9 October.
