Capacity Shortages Unlikely To Hold Back Cell And Gene Therapies

The pharmaceutical industry's manufacturing capacity for cell and gene therapies is under pressure from an ever-increasing number of life sciences companies wanting to exploit rare expertise in the sector, but CMOs and government-backed facilities are rapidly coming on-stream, hoping to develop local clusters of companies to deliver the complete "living medicines" supply chain.

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Manufacturing and transport will be key to success • Source: Shutterstock

Stunning clinical trial results with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell-based therapies and virus-based gene therapies, and approvals of the first pioneering medicines in these categories, have given a boost to the hundreds of biotech companies working in the sector, and led to concerns about how contract manufacturing organizations and other third-party manufacturing suites will be able to meet the burgeoning demand for their services.

"There's a real lack of manufacturing capacity for cell therapy companies, and they are block-booking suites in CMOs even if...

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