Elicera Therapeutics participates in a collaborative project for the development of improved CAR T-cell production that has been awarded research support of SEK 850 thousand
Gothenburg, January 9, 2024 - Elicera Therapeutics AB (publ), a clinical stage cell and gene therapy company developing next generation cancer treatments based on its proprietary commercial technology platform iTANK, today announced that a collaborative project with Vecura at Karolinska University Hospital and Uppsala University has been awarded SEK 850,000 from the Center for Advanced Medical Products (CAMP). The purpose of the project is to develop an automated production process of CAR T-cells (ELC-401) for use in clinical studies.
CAR T-cell therapies are produced by extracting T-cells from the patient and modifying them in the laboratory so that they produce specific proteins on the surface, so-called chimeric antigen receptors, CARs. Currently, this is done in a partially open process, which entails risks of contamination of the CAR T-cells.
The production process will be developed in a research lab at Uppsala University, and tech-transferred to Vecura – a GMP manufacturing unit for advanced therapy medicinal products at Karolinska University Hospital. Elicera contributes by providing the research grade and GMP grade vector necessary for implementation. The goal is to generate better quality of ELC-401 drug product, and reduce the lead time between extraction of T-cells and treatment with the finished CAR T-cells.
"We are very pleased that CAMP supports this project, which gives us the opportunity to further develop our production process of CAR T-cells. The reduced risk of contamination and shortened lead times will significantly increase our competitiveness in the development of new CAR T-cell treatments,” says Jamal El-Mosleh, CEO of Elicera Therapeutics.”
The project will be run within the framework of the development of the company's CAR T-cell therapy ELC-401 against glioblastoma. The project is partially financed by the national center CAMP and is estimated to be completed within a year from the start of the project.
