A Cure for Cancer? How CAR T-Cell Therapy is Revolutionizing Oncology

Labiotech.eu | September 10, 2019

CAR-T therapy has been hailed as a cure for cancer, but what really is this ‘miraculous technology’ and what can we actually expect from it? The field of immuno-oncology is booming with billions of euros in investment. The ability to rewire our own immune system to fight cancer has certainly created huge expectations. After the success of the first checkpoint inhibitor drugs on the market, many are turning their attention to CAR-T cell therapy. There are two CAR-T therapies already on the market. The field is now booming, with over 800 CAR-T clinical trials running. But is this therapy really a cure for cancer, as many seem to believe? Can the technology meet such high expectations? Are side effects a concern? Is it worth the huge price tag? To answer the most burning questions, I talked with some of the leaders in this field to draw an overview of the current state of CAR-T technology.

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Implementation of a metabolite-based cell density<br /> estimation and evaluation of harvest strategies for<br /> Lentivirus production with HEK293T cells

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Implementation of a metabolite-based cell density<br /> estimation and evaluation of harvest strategies for<br /> Lentivirus production with HEK293T cells

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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT, MEDICAL

Elemental Machines partners with System-c bioprocess to bring its IoT hardware solutions to the European biopharmaceutical industry

Prnewswire | March 30, 2023

Elemental Machines, developer of the Intelligent Operations Platform, has entered into a partnership with System-c bioprocess as an authorized reseller of Elemental Machines' hardware solutions, servicing the biopharmaceutical industry in France. The partnership will allow Elemental Machines to expand its footprint further in European markets. System-c serves as a partner and distributor for benchmark brands that cover a range of bioprocessing products from screening to filtration and beyond. Under the terms of the agreement, System-c will be an authorized reseller and distributor of Elemental Machines' suite of IoT-enabled sensors, which operators can use to collect and unify data across their biopharmaceutical facilities. "We are excited to partner with System-c and leverage their expertise in bringing innovative technology solutions to their bio-pharma customers,"said Dan Petkanas, Director of Global Alliances at Elemental Machines. "Together we will be able to deliver much needed tools to support and speed drug discovery." "We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Elemental Machines," said Yannick Carfantan, CEO of System-c. "Elemental Machines' leading technology platform for optimizing laboratory operations is going to give our company a new boost in our business development, not only for the French market but across Europe. Their measurement, information, alerting and data recovery technology opens new horizons for the control of laboratory equipment and R&D, pilot, and production departments enabling peace of mind for a number of actors in the biotech and biopharma industries. A winner for sure!" About System-c bioprocess As a partner and distributor for benchmark brands and continually searching for new innovative technologies, our product range covers all stages of the bioprocesses: from screening to filtration of the final product. Our solutions are always evolving in parallel with the new developments in life sciences, as well as the requirements for quality, safety and process productivity. Established in 1988 System-c bioprocess has been created to guarantee their customers complete, easy-to-use and customizable solutions to ensure productivity, reliability, and continuous traceability for all bioprocesses. Experts in innovative solutions and technologies for cell culture and fermentation processes, we have been constantly working with researchers, technicians and engineers from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrifood industries for more than 30 years. About Elemental Machines Elemental Machines' Intelligent Operations Platform combines the best of IoT technology with purpose-built software solutions to deliver actionable intel to operators in the life sciences and byond. The Platform simplifies, optimizes, and augments operations by connecting the physical and digital infrastructure. Science and technology leaders trust Elemental Machines' ecosystem of hardware and software to deliver actionable insights that accelerate their pace of innovation.

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MEDTECH, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT

Twist Bioscience Enters into Third Collaboration with Astellas to Support Antibody Discovery for Immunotherapies

Businesswire | April 21, 2023

Twist Bioscience Corporation a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, today announced a collaboration with Astellas Pharma Inc. by which Astellas will license a suite of Twist’s VHH antibody libraries to be used by Astellas for drug discovery and development. “We are pleased to extend our collaboration with Astellas to three agreements across two groups within the company, showcasing our ability to meet the varying needs of our customers and support their success,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “This latest collaboration with Astellas demonstrates how Twist can enable our customers to grow their pipelines both externally with our antibody discovery services and by supporting their internal discovery with our highly specific and potent antibody libraries.” Under the terms of the agreement, Astellas will license a suite of Twist’s VHH libraries for a period of five years and will use the libraries to conduct research and development activities. Twist will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive annual maintenance fees and fees per product through payments associated with specific clinical and commercial milestones. Twist will also be eligible to receive royalty payments on product sales. Twist VHH Antibody Libraries Antibodies contain two variable domains, the heavy and the light chains. A VHH antibody, also known as a single domain antibody, is the antigen binding domain of the heavy chain, with three complementary determining regions (CDRs), or areas where antigens bind to the antibody. Twist’s VHH libraries use novel methods that combine synthetic and natural approaches to maximize diversity up to 10 billion for each library, creating high quality VHH libraries for use against any protein target. The small size of the VHH antibodies allow them to access targets that traditional antibodies cannot, with tight binding affinity. The modular nature of VHH antibodies supports creation of bi- or multi-specific antibodies ideal for developing next generation therapies specific to oncology, autoimmune disease and virology. During the pandemic, Twist published on the use of these libraries to neutralize SARS-CoV-2. About Twist Bioscience Corporation Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic biology and genomics company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology. The core of the platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a silicon chip. Twist is leveraging its unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing (NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist makes products for use across many industries including healthcare, industrial chemicals, agriculture and academic research.

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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT, MEDICAL

Hansa Biopharma and Genethon announce collaboration to develop imlifidase as pre-treatment to gene therapy in Crigler-Najjar syndrome patients

prnewswire | April 28, 2023

Hansa Biopharma AB, "Hansa" a pioneer in enzyme technology for rare immunological conditions, and Genethon, a pioneer and a leader in gene therapy research and development for rare genetic diseases, announced they have entered a research and development collaboration. The collaboration will, in a clinical study, evaluate the safety and efficacy of Hansa's antibody cleaving enzyme imlifidase as a pre-treatment prior to the administration of Genethon's gene therapy product candidate GNT-0003 in Crigler-Najjar syndrome in patients with pre-existing neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) to adeno-associated virus serotype 8 (AAV8). The presence of circulating NAbs today excludes patients from entering clinical studies with potentially curative gene therapy treatments and from future access to approved gene therapies. Søren Tulstrup, President and CEO, Hansa Biopharma stated: "Genethon is a pioneer at the cutting-edge of research and development of gene therapies for rare diseases and we are thrilled to be collaborating with them. This research collaboration further validates Hansa's commitment in gene therapy and underscores the important role that our antibody-cleaving enzyme technology can play in ensuring that even more patients can benefit from life-saving gene therapies". GNT-0003 is currently being evaluated in a pivotal clinical study in France, Italy, and the Netherlands and has received PRIME (PRIority MEdicines) status from the EMA. Through the collaboration announced today, patients with Crigler-Najjar and pre-formed antibodies to AAV8 will be enrolled in a study with similar design where imlifidase is evaluated as a pre-treatment to enable gene therapy treatment with GNT-0003. The outcome of the ongoing clinical study of GNT-0003 could potentially form the basis for a MAA or BLA application in Europe or the US. Crigler-Najjar is a genetic disease-causing bilirubin accumulation which leads to irreversible neurological damage manifested as muscle weakness, lethargy, deafness, mental retardation, and eye movement paralysis. Crigler-Najjar syndrome is an ultra-rare disease affecting less than one case per one million people per year.1 Frédéric Revah, CEO, Genethon added: "Patients with pre-existing neutralizing antibodies against AAV vectors cannot today benefit from gene therapy. This collaboration with Hansa Biopharma is thus an important next step in the development of our gene therapy treatment for Crigler-Najjar syndrome, Hansa Biopharma's proven enzyme technology coupled with its scientific expertise will help us advance the critical research we are conducting in Crigler-Najjar and could enable gene therapy treatment for patients who are today not eligible because of their immunological status". About Hansa Biopharma Hansa Biopharma is a pioneering commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company on a mission to develop and commercialize innovative, lifesaving and life-altering treatments for patients with rare immunological conditions. Hansa has developed a first-in-class immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody-cleaving enzyme therapy, which has been shown to enable kidney transplantation in highly sensitized patients. Hansa has a rich and expanding research and development program based on the Company's proprietary IgG-cleaving enzyme technology platform, to address serious unmet medical needs in transplantation, autoimmune diseases, gene therapy and cancer. Hansa Biopharma is based in Lund, Sweden, and has operations in Europe and the U.S. The Company is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker HNSA.

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