Innovate UK awards CDMO £1.5m for advanced therapies project

Innovate UK has awarded £1.5 million to a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) focused on advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs).

Cobra Biologics will work with co-winners, Pall Corporation, and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult on investigating continuous manufacturing of adeno-associated virus (AAV) for gene therapy applications.

Peter Coleman, chief executive officer of Cobra Biologics, said: “In light of the unprecedented clinical successes with a number of ATMPs, we are looking forward to working with Pall and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. Together we will develop innovative in-process analytical techniques and manufacturing approaches based on continuous chromatography platforms, to significantly increase process yields, and, in doing so, make these advanced therapies more accessible to patients.”

Mario Philips, vice president & general manager of Pall Biotech stated that the current processes for AAV are costly for both time and cosumables.

“With this project, we hope to advance the AAV purification process and affect a 25% or more step change in purification yields. The Pall Cadence BioSMB system will be investigated for its ability to increase yields and decrease cost, while using novel analytical procedures to enhance the purification process,” Philips said.

“Our shared vision is to take a major step towards continuous processing for gene therapy production. We each bring strengths and a unique perspective to this collaborative R&D project.” added Keith Thompson, chief executive officer of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. “As we move forward, we will create a scalable continuous process that increases efficiencies in time and cost, to make commercialisation of gene therapies safer, faster, and cheaper than ever before. We are excited to play a key role in increasing patient access to these potentially life-changing therapies and to further establish best practices in manufacturing.”