ScaleReady, alongside Wilson Wolf, Bio-Techne and CellReady, has awarded eight G-Rex grants through the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s (CIRM) Manufacturing Network (INFR5) programme.
CIRM has developed a unique funding opportunity for non-profit academic GMP manufacturing facilities to enhance operations and to establish productive partnerships with industry and non-profit stakeholders.
This will further establish California as a world-leading hub of cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing.
"CIRM's California Manufacturing Network initiative recognises the integral role that California academic manufacturing facilities play in advancing the development of innovative cell and gene therapies," said Dr Shyam Patel, Associate Vice President of Preclinical Development at CIRM.
"We applaud the CIRM awardees for securing G-Rex grants to further advance the development of cost-effective cell therapy manufacturing platforms for patients."
"It's gratifying to know that the G-Rex manufacturing platform is being widely adopted by California's prestigious academic manufacturing facilities that are pursuing groundbreaking cell and gene therapy discoveries, clinical trials and drug product approvals," said John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Wolf and co-inventor of G-Rex.
The following G-Rex Grants were awarded to these CIRM INFR5 Recipients:
- UC San Diego (UCSD): Dr Dan Kaufman – $125k to develop a G-Rex system for producing virus-like particles for immune cell engineering
- City of Hope: Dr Taby Ahsan – $300k to advance G-Rex-based CAR-T development; first therapy from Dr Xiuli Wang’s lab is forthcoming
- Stanford Medicine (LCGM): Dr Steve Feldman – $300k to develop CAR-T manufacturing processes; the first G-Rex therapy has entered the clinic for paediatric neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma
- USC/CHLA: Dr Mohamed Abou-el-Enein – $300k for a novel non-viral CAR-T manufacturing platform
- UC Davis (UCD): Mr Brian Fury – $300k for G-Rex process development and platform improvements in CAR-T production
- UCSF: Dr Brian Shy and Dr Ke Li – $200k to enhance their open-source, non-viral CAR-T platform, including upcoming anti-CD70 therapy from Dr Arun Wiita’s lab
- UCLA: Dr Dawn Ward – $150k to establish multiple G-Rex workflows; first project is an iNKT therapy from Dr Lili Yang
- Cedars Sinai: Dr Dhruv Sareen – $300k for preclinical and IND-enabling studies of a CAR-T therapy targeting pancreatic adenocarcinoma, developed in Dr Joshua Sasine’s lab.
ScaleReady's G-Rex grant programme is a $40m initiative to advance the state of cell and gene-modified cell therapy (CGT) development and manufacturing by awarding individual Grant Awards worth up to $300,000.
G-Rex Grant recipients also gain access to exclusive support from ScaleReady's growing consortium of G-Rex Grant Partners.
These partners bring best-in-class tools and technologies, as well as unparalleled knowledge and expertise in the areas of cGMP manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs, CGT business operations and more.
Importantly, ScaleReady has just introduced another free programme to accelerate the universal presence of highly efficient and scalable CGT manufacturing.
Under this programme, ScaleReady has partnered with Hanson Wade to launch an event series called LEAN Cell & Gene.
All CGT entities are invited to attend and will learn how to systematically identify and eliminate waste, stabilise business operations, increase drug product quality and develop a LEAN approach to cell and gene therapy development and manufacturing.