GE Healthcare partnership aims to improve gene therapy manufacturing

GE Healthcare Life Sciences has announced a partnership with the Children’s Medical Research Institute to improve the efficiency of manufacturing gene therapies.

The companies will jointly develop new affinity ligands for the purification of adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors used in gene therapies. GE Healthcare and the Children’s Medical Research Institute will aim to bring to market specific ligands for multiple AAV types. In doing so, the companies hope to enhance the chromatographic separation of AAV-based vectors, improving the manufacturing efficiency and scalability of gene therapies, and improving the availability of viral vectors on a global scale.

With more than 800 gene therapies currently in clinical trials, there is an increasing demand for the raw materials needed in the manufacturing process of viral vectors – which are used to deliver cell and gene therapies into patients.

Children’s Medical Research Institute will share with GE Healthcare Life Sciences AAV capsid variants targeting different tissues. GE Healthcare Life Sciences will then design and test ligand prototypes, which Children’s Medical Research Institute will assess. Based on the performance results, GE Healthcare Life Sciences will manufacture and commercialise novel improved AAV affinity ligands.

Dr Leszek Lisowski, lead gene therapy scientist at Children’s Medical Research Institute, said: “Bringing the fruits of our work to the patients requires a joint effort between academia and the industry. The collaboration with GE Healthcare Life Sciences will allow us to expedite the development of novel clinical options at a lower cost.”

Olivier Loeillot, general manager, Bioprocess at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, commented: “The industry needs better and more personalised technologies to speed biopharmaceuticals through clinical trials and bring them to market. Our long biomanufacturing expertise combined with Children’s Medical Research Institute’s pioneering research will lead to purification technologies that will streamline the production of gene therapies.”

Catarina Flyborg, general manager, Cell and Gene Therapy at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, added: “Collaborations with organisations such as Children’s Medical Research Institute are critical to developing the technologies needed to move the industry forward. By working directly with the world-class researchers, GE Healthcare Life Sciences can develop the purification technologies that will contribute to increase the availability of viral vectors globally.”