GSK and Miltenyi Biotec have formed a strategic collaboration seeking to optimise the manufacture and delivery of personalised gene therapies.
The UK drugs giant is currently building a cell and gene therapy R&D platform to underpin development of novel therapies in oncology and rare diseases, reflecting its belief in cell and gene therapy’s potential as an important treatment approach for tackling the underlying cause of serious disease.
Under the alliance, Miltenyi Biotec will engage with GSK to integrate greater automation and high-tech processing technology into the UK drug giant’s current manufacturing capabilities, in order to further industrialise cell and gene therapy, overcoming the manufacturing and scale-up constraints associated with current, more manual cell and gene therapy processes.
According to GSK, this could cut costs and geographical barriers associated with the treatment approach, speed development of therapies and support their potential beyond rare diseases and limited populations.
The collaboration will also bring together the technology and expertise of both companies to advance the discovery of new CAR (chimeric antigen-receptor) T-cell based therapeutics; GSK and Miltenyi Biotec will collaborate on defined CAR-T oncology targets and on the development of advancements in technologies in this space that may be further applied by both parties.
“We see tremendous potential for the cell and gene therapy platform we are building within GSK, however the complexity of current manufacturing processes limits their use to local treatment of small patient populations,” noted Patrick Vallance, president of Pharmaceuticals R&D at GSK. “Working with Miltenyi Biotec, our vision is to transform current technology so that we can expand the possibilities for cell and gene therapy treatment to wider patient populations with broader geographical reach”.
Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.
