Development and manufacturing of a therapeutic stem cell product requires extensive quality control (QC) to ensure the identity, quality, and safety of the cells. Here, we describe our QC pipeline to optimize the manufacturing of our MultiStem adherent stem cell product, which is in clinical trial testing for stroke, acute myocardial infarction, inflammatory bowel disease, graft versus host disease, and solid organ transplantation. Screening for growth, marker expression, immunosuppression, and multipotent differentiation — in combination with “-omics†screening for gene…
Cell/Gene Therapies
Top 10 Regenerative Medicine Stories of 2011
Geron Ends Stem Cell Programs in November: Big hope for a spinal cord injury trial, big loss for a field — the most discussed news of the year. Despite the company’s official comment citing a “purely business decision,†many professionals think that a “lack of impressive preliminary results†also played a role. The company is now seeking a partner to take over that trial. The effect on the cell therapy industry remains to be seen — but for…
Recommendations for Cell Banks Used in GXP Assays
Cells and cell-derived reagents form the basis of an operationally challenging class of test methods used in execution of product potency testing (stability and lot release), assessments of pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) profiles, detection of antidrug antibodies (ADAs) or neutralizing antibodies (NAB), and characterization and comparability testing of biopharmaceutical products. Frequently, cell-based assays provide the only measurement of the tertiary/quaternary structure of each batch of product at the time of lot release and during stability testing to assist in determining product…
Transfer of Hepatic Progenitor Stem Cell Culture Process from multiple-tray stacks to the Xpansion Multiplate Bioreactor.
Scale-up a stem cell process may be challenging: small variations in physicochemical parameters (surface characteristics, pH and dissolved oxygen) can heavily impact stem cell growth and behavior. The Integrity® Xpansion™ multiplate bioreactors have been designed to enable an easy transfer from multiple-tray stacks process by offering the same cell growth environment: stacked hydrophylized polystyrene plates in a compact and closed system (from 10 to 200 plates per bioreactor equivalent respectively to 6120cm² and 122400cm²). As there is no headspace between…
Toward Defined Culture Conditions for Pluripotent Stem Cells, Part 2
At the UK National Stem Cell Network ‘s annual meeting in York, UK on 31 March 2011, a workshop organized by STEMCELL Technologies workshop addressed defined media for human stem cell culture. As illustrated in Part 1 (October 2011), it is critical to understand the pathways that maintain genetic stability during hES self-renewal, which is a prerequisite for all clinical applications. Because physiological DNA damage can take place during normal cellular proliferation, and accumulation of unrepaired DNA could…
Toward Defined Culture Conditions for Pluripotent Stem Cells, Part 1
On 31 March 2011, ~50 delegates attended a workshop organized by STEMCELL Technologies on implications of standard defined culture conditions for embryonic and induced-pluripotent human stem cells as part of the annual meeting of the UK National Stem Cell Network in York, UK. Researchers from both academia and industry need to develop a better understanding of those implications. Our company wanted to give them a better appreciation of key challenges facing ancillary material suppliers who manufacture standard defined…
Optimizing Cryopreservation for Therapeutic Cells
Biopreservation suppresses degradation and enables postpreservation recovery of structure, viability, and function. Although there are several biopreservation techniques (indicated in “Biopreservation Methods†box), most laboratories use either standard cryopreservation protocols (the far majority) or vitrification (much more limited in broad systems application) when freezing cells for research and clinical applications. Isopropanol freezing containers such as the Mr. Frosty device from Nalgene Labware have made cryopreservation easier in many applications, and controlled-rate freezers allow users to program and manipulate…
Where Will Technology Take Cell Therapy?
The cell therapy industry’s biggest challenge is in manufacturing. Technologies are needed to support expansion of large numbers of cells for commercial production. A number of sources are presenting options: e.g., standard two-dimensional tissue cultures that “grow up†to Corning HYPERFlask and CellSTACK or Nunc Cell Factory systems; hollow-fiber–based equipment; and disposable bags and traditional stirred-tank bioreactors. Each has its place and application, but how can companies choose among them? Where and when do they initiate scale-up process…
Building a Bridge to Commercial Success
The history of the biopharmaceutical industry is one of continual invention and reinvention, of business models that have adapted to weather uncertain product futures and shifting economic fortunes. Some of us followed the up-and-down (and often financially painful) progress of monoclonal antibodies toward their eventual commercial success — a wealth of experience to draw from as other classes of products make their way from laboratories and onto the market. The vast majority of regenerative medicines are still produced at laboratory…
Therapies of Tomorrow Require More Than Factories from the Past
Live cells are being incorporated as active agents and delivery vehicles for a broad range of emerging therapeutic strategies. Successful commercialization of a cell therapy requires more than proving its safety and efficacy to regulators. Ultimately a therapy must be commercially viable, allowing enough patients to be treated with an adequate financial margin to justify investment in it as a product. “Whether the cells used are universal (allogeneic) or patient-specific (autologous), it is unlikely to be wholly one or the…