Developing cell therapies with a stem cell robot
Manufacturing challenges have limited the availability of stem cell-based therapeutics and now, to overcome these challenges, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA; London, UK) have announced that a stem cell propagation robot will be trialed by the MHRA UK.
The CellQualia™ Intelligent Cell Processing System, which was developed in Japan, automates the culturing of cells in real-time and stabilizes the process by utilizing intelligent process analytical technology. It is capable of automated sowing, process monitoring, medium change, passaging and harvesting. The technology also utilizes a fully closed system to reduce the risk of contamination, ensuring that the cells are of a high quality.
In the trial, the cells produced by the robot will be assessed to see whether they meet the standard for cell-based therapeutics, with skilled staff making decisions about cellular morphology and confluency. It is hoped that this method of automated manufacturing will make it easier to produce cell therapies with a higher level of quality control and reduced costs.
“Cell-based therapeutics have the potential to treat, and even cure, a vast number of diseases but their availability has been limited because they are often very difficult to manufacture,” commented Marc Bailey, MHRA’s Chief Scientific Officer.
The project is part of a UK-based international research program and a partnership between MHRA, SAKARTA Ltd (Edinburgh, UK) and Sinfonia Technology (Tokyo, Japan). The collaboration is also supported by the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation at Kobe (FBRI; Kobe Japan).
Discussing the benefits of utilizing the stem cell robot in the cell therapy manufacturing process, Bailey said, “The new Intelligent Cell Processing System being tested at the MHRA, of which there are only two machines in use in the world, could make this manufacturing process much easier and therefore transform the availability of these treatments. It also has the potential to reduce human error in this process and produce a more consistent final product which will result in safer and more effective treatments.”
The stem cell robot could transform the cell therapy landscape by boosting the production of cell-based therapeutics for a range of diseases including neurons for Parkinson’s disease, cardiomyocytes for cardiac repair and pancreatic islets for Type 1 diabetes.
https://www.regmednet.com/developing-cell-therapies-with-a-stem-cell-robot/
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