Industry updates with Dusko Ilic: April 2021
Read highlights from the latest installment of Dusko Ilic’s industry news, which discuss the latest developments and news in regenerative medicine and stem cell research, and are published every month in Regenerative Medicine.
Every month, Dusko comments on regenerative medicine industry news of note. Read the full update for April 2021 in Regenerative Medicine here >>>
What happened this month that you were expecting?
Following FDA clearance of an Investigational New Drug application for their CAR-modified T-cell therapy ACLX-001, Arcellx (MD, USA), a privately held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, had no problem raising US$115 million in a Series C financing to advance its pipeline of adaptive and controllable cell therapies.
What happened that surprised you this month?
Persistence pays off
Luc Douay described the large-scale ex vivo production of mature human red blood cells (RBCs) from hematopoietic stem cells of diverse origins more than 15 years ago in Nature Biotechnology. Publication in a high-profile journal, a promising technology…I would have expected a commercial product in five years, if not even less but it was not the case. Most people will give up at some point; Luc did not and EryPharm (France) finally was able to enter a pilot production phase and scaleup. Congratulations!
If we only read about one story this month, what should it be?
Fact checking stem cell therapy for knees
Mesenchymal stromal/stem cell (MSC)-based therapy for osteoarthritis and knee injuries is very widespread and popular. However, only a handful of products have been approved as advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) in the European Union or USA. Zofin™, manufactured by Organicell Regenerative Medicine (FL, USA), has been the newest addition to the FDA-approved group. Before signing up or recommending (MSC)-based therapy for osteoarthritis to anybody, I would strongly recommend reading first what Paul Knoepfler has to say about it in his blog; it may save you the embarrassment (and money).
Read the full industry update for April 2021 >>>
Dr Dusko Ilic
Dusko Ilic is a Senior Lecturer in stem cell science, coordinator of the cross-divisional postgraduate program in stem cells and regenerative medicine, and Head of the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Core Facility at King’s College London (London, UK). He is also Head of the Assisted Conception Unit’s Human Embryonic Laboratories at Guy’s Hospital (London, UK). He is also a member of the editorial board of the journal Regenerative Medicine, where he writes the Industry Report, a regular feature compiling information from non-academic institutions in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine.
