Yposkesi, a gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), will provide good manufacturing practice (GMP) production of lentiviral vectors to Sevier as the company continues to develop allogenic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell technology for hematological malignancies.
According to Servier, cell-based gene therapies that have been obtained with autologous CAR-engineered products have demonstrated positive results in treating hematological malignancies.
Allogenic CAR-T therapies, which will be developed per this agreement, hold the potential to be manufactured in large batches, creating off-the-shelf treatments for a larger number of patients, as opposed to autologous treatments which are created individually from patient’s cells.
Pierre Venesque, EVP of industry at Servier, said in a statement, “Allogenic CAR-T cell therapy is a promising new technology with an amazing potential to treat cancer patients.”
Per the agreement, Servier will have access to Yposkesi’s technology for lentiviral vector manufacturing, which has been used in several clinical trial programs in the EU and US, as well as analytical development, quality assessment resources and capacity.
Servier said it will be focusing 50% of its R&D budget on oncology over the next two years, with a focus on therapies aiming to restore programmed cell death in cancer cells. The company currently has five treatments on the market and is developing 12 therapeutic options.
