Cell therapy weekly: patenting viral vector technology
This week: A viral vector manufacturing technology has been patented, Cellares (CA, USA) and Cabaletta Bio (PA, USA) completed a Technology Adoption Program to automate the manufacturing of autoleucel (rese-cel) on the Cell Shuttle™. Plus, Xcell Biosciences Australia (Xcellbio; Melbourne, Australia) and Royal Perth Hospital (Australia) have partnered to develop an automated manufacturing process for tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies.
The news highlights:
- Patenting viral vector technology
- Automating CAR-T manufacturing
- MSCs move to clinical trial for juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Patenting viral vector technology
CHO Plus (CA, USA) has obtained a patent (Patent No. 12,252,713) covering a process for fusing and screening cells to create cell hybrids that are capable of producing viral vectors, which are essential tools for delivering genes in gene therapy. Notably, this is the first patent to cover the use of cell hybrids for viral vector production, potentially improving the efficiency and scalability of manufacturing viral vectors for therapeutic applications.
Larry Forman, CHO Plus Founder, CEO, and co-inventor of this technology commented: “We are thrilled to achieve this milestone. The technology was developed through the hard work and creativity of our scientific staff. Some common diseases would be amenable to gene therapy, but they remain untreated due to high viral vector production costs and the inability to produce sufficient quantities of the viral vectors. CHO Plus technology offers a possible solution.”
Automating CAR-T manufacturing
Cellares has completed its Technology Adoption Program, which tested whether its automated manufacturing platform Cell Shuttle could efficiently produce Cabaletta Bio’s lead product candidate rese-cel. The results were successful, demonstrating that the platform could manufacture multiple batches of the CD19-targeting CAR T-cell therapy simultaneously in an automated process. Following this success, Cellares and Cabaletta Bio plan to expand their collaboration to produce clinical-grade (cGMP) batches for patient use, moving towards clinical and commercial manufacturing.
“Through our partnership with Cellares, our teams have successfully achieved proof of concept for the ability to automate the rese-cel cellular drug substance manufacturing process. I believe that the potential increase in capacity, meaningful reduction in costs, and rapid global technology transfer offers a potential solution for the global scale out of rese-cel for patients with autoimmune disease,” said Gwendolyn Binder, President, Science and Technology at Cabaletta Bio.
Manufacturing collaboration for tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapies
Xcellbio and Royal Perth Hospital have partnered to develop an automated, clinical-scale manufacturing process for TIL therapies using Xcellbio’s AVATAR™ Foundry system. This collaboration aims to streamline manufacturing, enabling faster and more efficient production of potent TIL therapies for clinical trial use. Through the partnership, Xcellbio scientists will work with the Royal Perth Hospital team to develop a manufacturing workflow that meets key targets for cell quality, quantity and therapeutic potency, ultimately supporting the hospital’s clinical trials for cancer patients.
“The emerging therapeutic class of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes is incredibly exciting, in particular for solid tumors. Current manufacturing processes require long expansion times and high cell doses to be effective in patients. The AVATAR platform will reduce manufacturing time and increase therapeutic potency,” said James Lim, co-founder and CSO at Xcellbio.