Cell therapy weekly: First patient transplanted with iPSC-derived corneal endothelial cell substitute
This week: the first patient has been transplanted with an iPSC-derived corneal endothelial cell substitute, Pharmaron’s (Bejing, China) Liverpool CDMO facility has received a government grant for major site expansion and Thermo Fisher Scientific (MA, USA) has opened a cell therapy facility at the University of California, San Fransisco.
The news highlights:
First patient transplanted with iPSC-derived corneal endothelial cell substitute
At the 22nd Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine (Kyoto, Japan; 23-25 March 2023), Shigeto Shimmura, a research collaborator of Cellusion Inc. (Tokyo, Japan), presented that the company’s induced pluripotent stem cell-derived corneal endothelial cell substitute, CLS001, has been transplanted into the first patient in a first-in-human trial. This cell therapy is designed to treat bullous keratopathy by replacing the corneal endothelial cells depleted due to the disease. CLA001 is expected to improve access to treatment for many people as it will address current limitations in the supply of donor corneas.
Pharmaron’s Liverpool CDMO facility receives government grant for major site expansion
Pharmaron (Bejing, China) announced that its facility in Liverpool, UK has received a US$186 million grant from the UK Government’s Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF), which will be employed to expand its viral vector and DNA manufacturing capabilities. Pharmaron acquired the established Liverpool cell and gene therapy facility from AbbVie (IL, USA) in 2021.
Boliang Lou, Chairman and CEO of Pharmaron, stated: “I am delighted that we have been awarded this funding from the UK Government. Securing this grant demonstrates UK Government’s support and trust in Pharmaron to continuously expand our state-of-the-art infrastructure and top-notch scientific team at Liverpool to serve the gene therapy and vaccine development community in the UK and abroad. We look forward to our new facilities coming online to support our partners that are delivering innovative, life-changing medicines for patients in 2025.”
Thermo Fisher Scientific opens cell therapy facility at University of California, San Fransisco
A cGMP cell therapy manufacturing facility has been opened at the University of California, San Fransisco (CA, USA) in partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific (MA, USA), as part of the company’s global pharma services network of more than 15 locations. Initially, the facility will focus on utilizing updated approaches to CAR-T and CRISPR to treat glioblastoma, multiple myeloma, and other cancers.
“[The University of California, San Fransisco] is one of the top clinical sites for CAR-T treatment, and our scientists are leading the next generation of CAR-T therapy development,” said Chancellor Sam Hawgood. “These approaches will be tested soon in patients with solid tumors like glioblastoma and later in other diseases, including autoimmunity.”