Scaling Up Cell and Gene Therapies: Automation Is the Next Step
In this episode, we take a deep dive into manufacturing cell and gene therapies with Lonza expert Behnam Ahmadian Baghbaderani, executive director of Cell and Gene Therapy Process Development.
Cell and gene therapies have the potential to revolutionize the treatment of rare genetic diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. These therapies involve extracting cells or genetic material from a patient or donor, altering them and then re-injecting them back into the patient to provide a highly personalized treatment. However, the manufacturing process for these therapies is complex and expensive. To increase the availability of these therapies, the industry is making strides in scaling up the manufacturing process to reduce costs.
According to Behnam Ahmadian Baghbaderani, executive director of Cell and Gene Therapy Process Development at Lonza, “It is important to incorporate innovative technologies and reduce the cost of goods and production in order to make these therapies widely accessible for a large number of patients.”
One essential way to achieve this is through automation: automated cell culture systems, including bioreactors, can be used to grow and expand cells in a controlled environment, which reduces the need for manual labor while increasing consistency and reproducibility. Simply put, scaling up the manufacturing process using automation makes these therapies more widely accessible to the large number of patients who need them.
Curious to Know More?
Listen to this episode of A View On Cell and Gene Therapies to explore how cell and gene therapies are manufactured. Get an inside look into the next steps for the industry from Lonza expert Behnam Ahmadian Baghbaderani.
KEY TERMS:
Genome: All of the genetic information of an organism. When speaking about the microbiome, it refers to an entirely different organism that is comprised of its own genetic makeup from the host—the interaction between the two genomes is the subject of study known as host-microbiome interaction.
Microbiome: The extremely diverse ecosystem of hundreds, sometimes thousands of different species of microbes found in and on the human body. Microbial biodiversity is key to a healthy microbiome and a poor microbiome is linked to diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, cancer and possibly some central nervous disorders.
Therapeutic translatability: The ability to translate or apply basic research into therapies for the benefit of humans. As we understand more how the complex microbiome works, Professor Elinav asserts that these insights translate directly into ways to manipulate it and improve health.
Personalised or Precision Medicine: A general trend to adapt treatments to individuals instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. In the context of host-microbiome research, as the microbiome is unique to each individual, it could hold the keys to specialized treatments by harnessing the individualized data.