NHSBT Tissue Services to assist Progenteq in further development of its allogeneic cartilage cell therapy
12 Oct 2011
A new venture for NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Tissue Services sees its specialist research and development laboratories assisting Progenteq with the next stage in the development of the company's novel cartilage replacement therapy.
Progenteq was formed by Fusion IP PLC to commercialise the work of Professor Charlie Archer's research group at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences. Professor Archer's group has successfully isolated a defined population of cells from adult articular cartilage. These cells display stem-cell like properties and as a result can be isolated and expanded in vitro to create very large "cell banks" that can subsequently be used to form cartilage. This provides the opportunity to create an "allogeneic" cell therapy, where cells from the cell bank can be supplied to patients requiring cartilage repair. If successful, this could replace current "autologous" cell therapies which are complex and expensive and would revolutionise the treatment of acute knee injuries.
Dominic Griffiths, Fusion IP's Investment Manager and Director of Progenteq said: "Progenteq's very exciting technology has received support from the Technology Strategy Board and this phase of the project must be completed by March 2011. Having visited the facilities we are confident that NHSBT Tissue Services have the facility and skilled staff needed to complete the work on time and to the required standards. Starting this work at such short notice and their commitment to deadlines is keeping the project on schedule to complete on time and on budget ."
NHSBT Tissue Services is the UK's major provider of human tissue for
transplant. To support this work it is the only UK tissue bank with a dedicated research and development team and a purpose built Tissue Development Laboratory, for translational research. It therefore has the skills to work on the improvement of existing processes and products and the development of innovative procedures and therapies. This ensures that NHSBT Tissue Services is at the forefront of tissue engineering and cellular therapy developments.
This unique skill base is combined with state of the art facilities, with Human Tissue Authority and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency accreditation, to offer a quality, reliable solution to evolving regenerative medicine companies, both in terms of translational development and the ability to scale up production processes.
Dr Paul Rooney, NHSBT's Research and Development Manager in Tissue Services, said: "In the rapidly evolving field of regenerative medicine, speed is vital to enable healthcare professionals to make these new treatments available to patients as soon as possible.
"NHSBT Tissue Services is able to offer timely completion of this vital stage in the development of this new cellular therapy product. With a purpose-built facility and our skilled specialist staff, in addition to research services, we are able to offer fully staffed GMP manufacturing facilities and a validated cold supply chain."
For additional information please contact the NHSBT press office on 0117 969 2444 email pressoffice@nhsbt.nhs.uk . For out of hours enquiries please call: 07659 133583.
