Virocell and Great Ormond Street Hospital team up to tackle viral vector shortage

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has partnered with manufacturer ViroCell Biologics in an effort to address the global viral vector manufacturing bottleneck for clinical trials.

Viral vectors are used to deliver genetic material into cells. They act as delivery vehicles for medicines including cell and gene therapies and vaccines. The availability of viral vectors is essential for researchers and companies testing their therapies in clinical trials.  

As part of the partnership with GOSH, ViroCell aims to more than double the UK’s lentivirus vector manufacturing capacity for clinical trials in 2022.  

Virocell is a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) focused on addressing the global viral vector supply demand imbalance that constrains the manufacture of novel cell and gene therapies. The company focuses exclusively on the design and GMP manufacture of viral vectors and gene modified cells for clinical trials.

The bottleneck for viral vector desing and GMP manufacturing is most acute between the pre-clinical concept and pivotal clinical trials. Virocell aims to fill the gap between small volume academic core labs and large volume CDMOs.

The production of the vectors will take place in GOSH’s Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children. The ViroCell team’s track record of manufacturing more than one hundred viral vectors for clinical trials over the last 20 years coupled with the Zayed Centre for Research’s state-of-the-art clean room suites will enable ViroCell and GOSH to dislodge the logjam that currently prevents promising, novel cell and gene therapies from entering clinical trials.

John W Hadden II, CEO of ViroCell, commented: “Team ViroCell has been impressed with the laser-focus, record speed and unyielding commitment of the GOSH transaction team, GOSH Executive Management and Board, and the GOSH Children’s Charity to make this partnership a reality. Together ViroCell, GOSH, and the Zayed Centre for Research have created a global one-stop-shop for viral vector manufacturing and gene-modified cell manufacturing for translational cell and gene therapies. We are proud to be partnered with such a prolific clinical research team that boasts a stunning track record of academic innovation in cell and gene therapy. We embrace GOSH’s commitment to bring novel therapies into the clinic for inherited or childhood diseases and commit to help GOSH speed the manufacture of viral vectors for those interventions.”

Matthew Shaw, CEO at Great Ormond Street Hospital, commented: “We are exceedingly pleased to be partnering with ViroCell to accelerate the transition of discovery science into the clinic and expand access to viral vectors.  We see this as a key to unlocking the innovation engine of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and its academic collaborators, ultimately delivering better outcomes for patients. Given ViroCell’s international network of collaborators, we expect that vectors for projects from around the world will be manufactured at the Zayed Centre for Research, and this may also expand the number of clinical trials that we can offer to our patients at GOSH.”