Cytiva supports Caring Cross to develop CAR-T cell therapy for people with HIV in low-to-middle-income nations
- Cytiva contributions will enable Caring Cross to develop and freely distribute its open-source CAR-T cell therapy production methods
August 23, 2022
Cytiva, a global life sciences leader and company of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR), and Caring Cross, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, have agreed to contribute their respective expertise to develop a CAR-T cell therapy for people with HIV. Cytiva will provide its technologies and solutions in support of Caring Cross’ mission to use manufacturing and distribution models to enable the affordability and accessibility of CAR-T cell therapies to diverse patient populations and treatment indications.
Cytiva will be providing equipment and software packages including the Sepax C-Pro, a compact, versatile place of care instrument with capabilities to automatically isolate, concentrate, wash and dilute cellular products and subsequently reduce total processing times of CAR-T manufacturing. Other equipment provided includes the VIA Thaw and VIA Freeze instruments designed to streamline freezing and thawing processes resulting in increased efficiency, while minimizing contamination risks of traditional methods such as water baths.
Dr. Boro Dropulić, Caring Cross’ co-founder and executive director, said: “Approximately 38 million people worldwide are living with HIV. Current treatment options are limited to long-term drug regimens, which are not curative nor are they readily available in underserved communities. We have developed an anti-HIV duoCAR-T cell therapy that’s currently being evaluated in a phase I/II clinical trial at the University of California, San Francisco and Davis.”
Dr. Dropulić continued: “Our collaboration with Cytiva will allow us to overcome some current limitations in the manufacturing workflows used for place-of-care manufacturing. Ultimately, this partnership will result in a lower cost of goods and reduced manufacturing times, which will accelerate the development of future therapies.”
Catarina Flyborg, Vice President of Cell and Gene Therapy at Cytiva, said: “Every person should be able to access advanced medicines. By sharing our expertise and providing our solutions to Caring Cross, we can support the development of therapeutics that will positively impact the lives of people living with HIV.”
Caring Cross is dedicated to developing and implementing affordable solutions for the manufacture of CAR-T cells, advancing a decentralized, place-of-care cell manufacturing model, and developing its first therapeutic candidate, an anti-HIV duoCAR-T cell therapy designed to suppress HIV replication and eliminate HIV-expressing cells in people with HIV. A stem cell gene therapy for Sickle Cell Disease and Beta-Thalassemia is also in development. Cytiva’s expertise will advance Caring Cross’ ongoing initiatives that aim to improve the accessibility and affordability of CAR-T technology and stem cell gene therapy.
About Cytiva
Cytiva is a global life sciences leader that works with academic and translational researchers, developers and manufacturers of biotherapeutics, cell and gene therapies, and new technologies such as mRNA, to enable the delivery of transformative medicines. Cytiva is a trusted expert with nearly 10 000 associates in more than 40 countries dedicated to customers’ speed, flexibility, capacity and efficiency in drug discovery, research, and manufacturing
About Caring Cross
Caring Cross is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to accelerating the development of advanced medicines and ensuring access to cures for all patients, everywhere. Caring Cross is mobilizing a growing community of healthcare professionals, scientists, engineers, community advocates, donors, investors, and business leaders to support the development of technologies and candidate medicines and technologies. Currently, Caring Cross is advancing several initiatives that aim to improve the accessibility, affordability and applicability of advanced medicines like CAR-T technology and stem cell gene therapy. For more information on Caring Cross visit https://caringcross.org/.
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