GE Healthcare has expanded its capacity for industralising cell therapies with the acquisition of Asymptote Ltd, a UK consultancy with technology for simplifying the freezing of cells intended as therapies, and thawing them before their use in patients.
The opportunities for commercialising cell and gene therapies appeared relatively bright as the first quarter drew to a close, helped by new finance and the prospective approval of the first cancer products made from engineered T cells.
Adaptimmune Therapeutics Plc has raised $61.8 million, net of expenses, in a public offering of its American Depositary Shares (ADSs) to advance its T cell receptor products for cancer.
Cell Medica Ltd has closed a £60 million Series C financing round to support its cell therapy platforms. The financing was announced not long after the company received a fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for its lead oncology product baltaleucel-T.
Kite Pharma Inc has published further positive data for its lead chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for cancer, while confirming that its rolling application to the FDA to receive marketing approval should be complete by the end of the first quarter.
The US Food and Drug Administration has given regulatory clearance for a Phase 1 trial of Cellectis SA’s allogeneic, gene-edited cell therapy for the treatment of refractory acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). The product is being developed by Servier and Pfizer Inc.
A case study of a young patient with sickle cell disease who was successfully treated with an experimental gene therapy has been published in the 2 March 2017 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine. It is believed to be the first treatment to deliver substantial relief from a disease that can sometimes lead to an early death.
TxCell SA expects to start a clinical trial in late 2018 of a regulatory T cell product that has been engineered to contain a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). The French company’s therapeutic focus is severe inflammatory and autoimmune diseases as well as organ transplant rejection.
Scientists at the Salk Institute in California, US have described a series of experiments in which they were able to integrate stem cells from one species into the early-stage development of another. The research was published in the 26 January 2017 edition of Cell, and raises hopes for transplantation.
(The following editorial appears in the January 2017 edition of MedNous) Yes, there are plenty of geopolitical risks going into 2017, but the biopharma industry is entering the New Year with plenty of cash and good prospects for innovation. In this issue we look at some recent developments.