A collaboration between a medical technology company and a non-profit group is aiming to advance the supply chain for cell and gene manufacturing in a bid to tackle scale-up and quality challenges within the sector.
Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies will work with GenCure to extend and unify cell and gene therapy manufacturing.
The collaboration will see the companies combine their technologies and expertise to meet demand across the cell and gene therapy (CGT) industry for smart systems that are automated and closed, and which allow for a real-time response to the living therapies being produced inside the systems.
The companies will initially establish a reference manfuactuirng centre for BioBridge Global which will see both organisation jointly developing core process and manufacturing operations. The site will be designed so that GenCure can deliver a full solution for cell and gene therapy developers. It will be based at GenCure’s process development and cGMP manufacturing facility at the VelocityTX campus in San Antonio, Texas, US.
Terumo will contribute a variety of products from its portfolio to allow in-plant optimisation of processes and user feedback, along with investment in new products and process utilisation. GenCure will leverage its expertise in Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies’ cell collection, cell and gene therapy manufacturing and fill-finish equipment.
The collaboration, which is set to last three years, aims to solve critical industry gaps in manufacturing capacity and operational expertise. The project will be conducted in two phases which will utilise Terumo’s range of automated and closed-cell and gene therapy manufacturing devices as well as its data management solutions.
Official comments
“Despite the rapid evolution of the cell and gene therapy sector, critical challenges such as management between collection, manufacturing sites and logistics still remain unresolved. For over 20 years, Terumo has been working with BioBridge to provide safe, high-quality blood products,” said Delara Motlagh, General Manager, Cell Therapy Technologies, Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies. “We are now combining our product portfolios, expertise and management to provide a vital link between cell collection sites and cell and gene therapy manufacturing sites, while addressing capacity and ensuring GMP production. This will provide a route to deliver cutting-edge cell and gene therapies through pursuing new standards of collection and manufacturing, including quality, consistency and demonstrated scalability.”
Martin Landon, Chief Executive Officer of BioBridge Global said: “Across the cell and gene therapy sector, collaborations are now proving vital to the rapid development of solutions to a number of key challenges. Our donor-to-patient solutions, which include cell collection, manufacturing and testing, require the best technologies and expertise available in the market. Working with an innovator like Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies will allow us to provide a leading-edge end-to-end solution for cell and gene therapy manufacturing that will be vital to deliver advanced therapies to patients.”