Cynata Therapeutics Takes Fresh Approach to Stem Cell Production
Ross Macdonald, PhD, managing director and CEO of Cynata Therapeutics, discusses the biotech company's approach to overcoming reproducibility challenges with mesenchymal stem cells.
Much like the manufacturing challenges that plague the gene therapy space, biotechnology companies focused on stem cell and regenerative therapies often find themselves faced with reproducibility issues that can compromise the quality of the end product.
Derived from donated tissue, current industry-standard manufacturing processes that rely upon cell reproduction within cell cultures are self-limiting.
"Excessive culture, prior to utilization as a therapy in therapeutic purposes, causes the cells to undergo what's called senescence, and they are no longer as potent or as efficient as they were when they were freshly isolated," said Ross Macdonald, PhD, managing director and chief executive officer, Cynata Therapeutics.
To surpass these limitations, Macdonald and the Cynata team have developed a novel manufacturing platform, called Cymerus, that utilizes mesenchymoangioblasts derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.
In an interview with GeneTherapyLive, Macdonald expanded on the advantages of the Cymerus platform and why their novel process can address several limitations of current industry standards.
