Cell Therapy Catapult and Synpromics to Collaborate on Viral Vector Manufacture

Synpromics and Cell Therapy Catapult announced the launch of a collaboration reduce the cost and increase the scale and efficiency of viral vector manufacturing, thus removing a barrier to the development of the cell and gene therapy industry.

The collaboration will use Synpromics’ synthetic promoter design technology and the Cell Therapy Catapult’s flexible manufacturing platform to create stable producer cell lines for the high titer and large-scale manufacture of viral vectors. The work will be funded in part by a €2 million grant from Innovate UK.

According to a Jan. 12, 2016 press release from the companies, this three-year project will use synthetic biology to develop novel and controllable gene-expression promoters to drive the production of a much higher level of viral vector yield from new stable cell lines. The project will focus on developing prototype cell lines to deliver industry relevant viral vectors, including Retrovirus and Adeno Associated Virus. Synpromics will be responsible for the expression platform development, and  the Cell Therapy Catapult will be responsible for process industrialization and control.