Successful start of the biosaxony working group "Cell Therapies"

On February 17.02.2020th, 2018, the new working group "Cell Therapies" of the innovation cluster Smart Medical Devices and Therapies from biosaxony started in Leipzig. Cell therapies, for example based on CAR-T cells or natural killer cells, are primarily researched and developed at the Dresden and Leipzig sites. The manufacture of the Novartis product Kymriah®, which was approved in XNUMX, is based, for example, on work by the Leipzig Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI). With the combined expertise of both locations, an application was submitted with "SaxoCell" as part of the future cluster initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which recently successfully started the second round of the competition. The two main applicants, the Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden and the Fraunhofer IZI, were also part of the first meeting of the working group, as was the Biotechnological-Biomedical Center of the University of Leipzig.

An increasing number of companies are also active in this area. In particular, the settlement of CO.DON AG, which now also intends to relocate its headquarters to Saxony, has also strengthened cell therapy development on the economic side. CO.DON offers an autologous cell therapy for articular cartilage defects, which is manufactured at the Leipzig site. The companies Vita34, denovoMATRIX and Bioplanta are also currently part of the working group; other interested parties are welcome.

The bundling of these actors and the initiation of joint activities is a task that biosaxony has taken on by starting an independent working group. The aim of the initial event on February 17.02.2020th, XNUMX in Leipzig was to jointly identify topics to which the working group can devote itself in the coming meetings. These include, above all, challenges in the regulatory area, the GMP manufacture of the products, but also the recruitment of skilled workers in this area. Furthermore, the presentation of the regional competences to the outside will be a topic of the working group in order to establish further international cooperation.

Contact:

biosaxony Management GmbH
Andre Hofmann
Managing Director
Fon: + 49 351 7965-501
gf@biosaxony.com