The signed agreement aims to reduce the time required for cell material to be transferred during Adaptimmune’s clinical trials ahead of commercialization, the company stated.
Adaptimmune’s chief patient supply officer, John Lunger commented that “delivering a patient’s cells rapidly and safely back to the hospital after the cells have been armed with our T-cell receptors and frozen for shipment is an essential capability for us.”
Moreover, the executive highlighted the need to control the treatment’s temperature, as variations can ‘jeopardize’ the cells. Adaptimmune aims to overcome this challenge through Cryoport’s cold-chain logistics service.
The SmartPak monitoring system is developed by Cryoport with an aim to provide near real-time data regarding the shipment’s location, temperature, orientation, humidity, and shock – such information is then displayed on the company’s cloud-based platform.
The past year has seen Cryoport establish multiple collaborations and expansions of its offering, due to the booming cell and gene therapy space and the rising number of temperature-sensitive regenerative medicine in development.
In April of this year, stem cell treatment developer Celularity adopted Cryoport’s services, and Jerrell Shelton, the latter’s CEO, told us that demand is projected to be robust.
The partnership with Celularity was followed by similar agreements with developers including Eversana, collaborations with software developers such as Vineti, as well as the acquisition of Cryogene, which enabled the logistics provider to expand its storage capabilities.
In its Q2 2019 earnings, the company announced it is supporting 413 clinical trials in regenerative medicine and reported revenue of $8.5m (€7.71m), an 83% increase compared to Q2 2018.