Collaborators to Develop Technologies to Turn Cell Therapy into a Clinical Tool

European collaborators aim to advance the development of technologies that will enable clinicians to employ cell therapy techniques as routine clinical treatments.

The Karolinska University Hospital (Stockholm, Sweden) and GE Healthcare Life Sciences (Little Chalfont, United Kingdom) recently signed an agreement to collaborate for three years in a program to explore and advance future technology and workflow needs for cell therapy in a clinical setting.

Karolinska University Hospital is already involved in pioneering cell therapy trials for the treatment of cancer as well as neurological and metabolic disorders. GE Healthcare Life Sciences is a well-known developer and manufacturer of biotherapeutic products. Furthermore, the company has established a research program aimed at developing new technologies to exploit cell therapy techniques.

To turn cell therapy into a routine clinical tool will require new technologies to grow, handle, process, and analyze cells. In addition, robust, reproducible, and standardized protocols and workflows for manufacturing and quality control must be established. Karolinska University Hospital and GE Healthcare have endeavored to work together to make this happen.

Dr. Johan Permert, director for development and innovation at Karolinska University Hospital said, “Our expectation from this exciting and innovative collaboration is to solve problems that hinder cell therapies from becoming an established treatment. By involving not only researchers and industry partners but also the public healthcare system, we are aiming to develop methods and tools that accelerate the implementation of cell therapies into standard treatment. In addition, this collaboration is a first initiative to develop enhanced interaction between Karolinska University Hospital and industry, which will lead to improved care chains.”

Dr. Amr Abid, general manager cell technologies at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said, “Cell therapy offers the hope that one day there will be treatments for diseases for which today there is no cure. Our vision at GE Healthcare is to help make that hope reality for patients and doctors by developing the technologies and workflows that will help bring cell therapy to the clinic. These are big challenges which will only be overcome by working hand-in-hand with the world’s foremost experts in clinical cell therapy, which is why we are delighted to be working with the world-class cell therapy team at Karolinska.”

Related Links:
Karolinska University Hospital
GE Healthcare Life Sciences