TrakCel announced a partnership agreement to incorporate its needle-to-needle supply chain management platform into the CGT Catapult’s large-scale cell and gene therapy manufacturing centre. The 7,200m2 manufacturing centre provides a state of the art GMP facility and support infrastructure to enable collaborators to carry out the large scale manufacture of cell and gene therapies as they progress towards commercial supply.
Establishing a robust supply chain from the scheduled collection of patient samples, tracking throughout the manufacturing process and delivery back to that same patient is a complex process. As a result, it is becoming increasingly critical for manufacturers as the patient numbers involved in late stage clinical trials and future commercial supply increase. This partnership will allow CGT Catapult collaborators to plug into an established software solution that will be able to track cell therapies across the whole supply chain, completely integrated within its validated systems at the manufacturing centre and associated cryo-storage and logistics facilities.
“We are pleased to provide our partners at the manufacturing centre with complementary tracking technology, such as the TrakCel Cellular Orchestration Platform, as we work to not only offer GMP manufacturing support in Stevenage but also ease our collaborator’s access to a fully developed, high quality global supply chain,” said Keith Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.
The TrakCel technology will link, in addition to the manufacturing centre, with Thermo Fisher Scientific’s new Fisher Bioservices CryoHubSM, being built adjacent to the manufacturing centre warehouse. The Cryohub will provide services for distribution of patient sample collection sets, cGMP cryo-storage of cell and gene therapies and also cryo-logistics for supply of these therapies throughout the UK and beyond, with Europe’s busiest airport (Heathrow) just an hour away.
Finally, the TrakCel technology will help further establish the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, where these services are located, as an emerging cell and gene therapy cluster not just for the UK but globally by offering another world first in life sciences innovation.
Keith added, “This integration of GMP manufacturing, cryo-storage and logistics support within a complete end to end supply chain management solution is something which has not been done before and is critical to enabling commercial supply of cell and gene therapies in the UK.”
This partnership will provide the world’s first supported GMP manufacturing base for cell and gene therapies enabling visibility across the entire manufacturing and supply process. The TrakCel platform will provide real-time audit logs and chain-of-custody records and will reduce the implementation risks associated with disparate, paper-based systems and therefore accelerate the scale up and scale out of cell therapy processes. The project will also demonstrate flexibility and the ability to link with any other commercially available or bespoke tracking systems employed by future collaborators in this fast moving field.
CGT Catapult specifically selected TrakCel as it has an established product installed and validated at sponsors, clinical sites, CMOs and logistic partners across North America and Europe. To minimise risks to product quality and patient safety it is essential that the supply chain is tracked and controlled both before and after the manufacturing process. The TrakCel platform has been proven to deliver this.
“The cell therapy sector is now starting to move from considerations around clinical development to commercialisation, and multi-layered supply chains involving many more patients, individuals and organisations. Patients will rely on the sector to ensure supply chains involve the adequate transportation of valuable cellular material in the right conditions,” said Ravi Nalliah, CEO, TrakCel. “As the most-advanced software developer for global cell and gene therapy supply chain tracking and orchestration, TrakCel is contributing its tracking capabilities to a range of international collaborations and firms. This partnership between CGT Catapult, TrakCel and Fisher BioServices will deliver the most technologically advanced and secure large-scale GMP manufacturing base for cell and gene therapies in the world.”
About the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult was established as an independent centre of excellence to advance the growth of the UK cell and gene therapy industry, by bridging the gap between scientific research and full-scale commercialisation. With more than 120 employees focusing on cell and gene therapy technologies, it works with partners in academia and industry to ensure these life-changing therapies can be developed for use in health services throughout the world. It offers leading-edge capability, technology and innovation to enable companies to take products into clinical trials and provide clinical, process development, manufacturing, regulatory, health economics and market access expertise. Its aim is to make the UK the most compelling and logical choice for UK and international partners to develop and commercialise these advanced therapies. The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult works with Innovate UK.
About TrakCel
TrakCel is the market leading designer, developer and deliverer of integrated technologies specifically created in 2012 to manage the international autologous and allogeneic cell, gene and immunotherapy supply chain. TrakCel’s software platform has been developed in collaboration with, and increasingly adopted by leading companies in the cell, gene and immunotherapy industries. TrakCel’s solutions deliver real-time control over the entire therapeutic supply chain, from sample collection through manufacturing to treatment delivery. The TrakCel platform accelerates global scale-up and scale-out of cell and gene therapy products, increasing efficiency and decreasing complexity, while maintaining needle-to-needle compliance and traceability.
TrakCel is headquartered in Cardiff, Wales, UK with US offices in California and New Jersey. It aims to employ over 100 people by end of 2019, following a number of senior appointments in 2016 and 2017.
For further information please contact:
Neil Hunter
+44 (0) 20 8943 4685
neil@imageboxpr.co.uk
Michelle Boxall
+44 (0) 20 8943 4685
michelle@imageboxpr.co.uk
