Collaboration Designed to Accelerate Development of Personalized Cancer Therapeutics

Two European biotechnology companies are to collaborate on the development of cell and gene based treatment strategies in order to optimize the manufacture and delivery of personalized cancer therapeutics.

GlaxoSmithKline (Brentford, United Kingdom) and Miltenyi Biotec (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) recently announced an agreement to collaborate in a program to merge GlaxoSmithKline’s expertise in developing cell and gene therapy based treatments with Miltenyi Biotec’s cell processing and counting technologies.

Through the collaboration, Miltenyi Biotec will introduce greater automation and high-tech processing technology into GlaxoSmithKline’s current cell and gene therapy research and developing manufacturing capabilities. The goal is to use this increased automation to industrialize cell and gene therapies, overcoming the manufacturing constraints associated with current processes. This should reduce costs and hasten development efforts.

The collaboration will also unite the methodology and expertise of both companies to advance the discovery of new CAR (chimeric antigen-receptor) T-cell based therapeutics, in which cells are engineered to target and destroy cancer cells by strengthening a patient’s natural T-cell response.

Patrick Vallance, president of pharmaceuticals research and development at GlaxoSmithKline, said, “Cell based gene therapies are living treatments, unique to individual patients and complex to manufacture. 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. 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.”

Stefan Miltenyi, CEO of Miltenyi Biotec, said, “For more than 20 years we have been developing and providing cell therapy solutions to patients worldwide. Working together with the global experts at GlaxoSmithKline, we will accelerate innovation to broaden patient access to future personalized cell and gene therapy.”

Related Links:
GlaxoSmithKline
Miltenyi Biotec