Cell engineer Avectas and CCRM, with its subsidiary CDMO OmniaBio have begun to develop gene-edited induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using Avectas' non-viral cell engineering platform, SOLUPORE.
Cell therapies are dramatically transforming the treatment of diseases, including cancer, inflammation, and metabolic diseases for patients worldwide; however, barriers remain to patient access. To overcome these challenges and create effective and truly "off-the-shelf" cell therapies, therapeutic developers are deriving allogeneic (from healthy donors) cell therapies from iPSCs.
This expanded collaboration, which builds on the original partnership announced in March 2020, will combine CCRM and OmniaBio’s extensive experience in iPSC manufacturing processes and characterisation with Avectas’
SOLUPORE technology, to overcome the limitations of current delivery technologies. These include complex editing and the long manufacturing times required to create edited iPSC-derived master and working cell banks. The SOLUPORE technology facilitates sequential cell modification while maintaining cell health, by efficiently delivering protein and nucleic acid cargo into cells with minimum perturbation.
Michael Maguire, PhD, CEO of Avectas, said: "We are delighted to expand our partnership with CCRM and OmniaBio to leverage their deep experience in iPSC reprogramming, gene editing and manufacturing processes to support the translation of our SOLUPORE platform towards clinical applications."
OmniaBio has deep subject matter expertise in bioprocessing and cell therapy manufacturing, and we are delighted to be collaborating on this project
Maguire continued: "Combining Avectas' novel cell engineering platform with CCRM and OmniaBio's extensive knowledge in the development of manufacturing processes for cell therapies will accelerate the availability of novel edited iPSC banks for allogeneic cell therapies."
"We’re very pleased to be continuing our partnership with Avectas in a project that is designed to move the industry closer to developing "off-the-shelf" cell therapies for patients," said Michael May, PhD, President and CEO of CCRM. "With the addition of OmniaBio’s manufacturing capabilities, we have the infrastructure and technical expertise to support the translation of the SOLUPORE platform for clinical use across a broader number of cell types."
"CCRM spun-out OmniaBio to provide cell and gene technology developers with a new and differentiated option in the CDMO space that not only provides expertise and capacity across the entire development spectrum, but also works with technology developers to catalyse the commercialisation of the next wave of innovative process and analytical tools," said Mitchel Sivilotti, CEO of OmniaBio. "OmniaBio has deep subject matter expertise in bioprocessing and cell therapy manufacturing, and we are delighted to be collaborating on this project."
