C&G Editor in Chief, Erin Harris

1. Aro Biotherapeutics Talks Series A Financing, Future of Centyrins 1/14/2021

   Based in Philadelphia, Aro Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering the development of tissue-targeted genetic medicines with a platform based on a proprietary protein technology called Centyrins. Earlier this month, Aro announced the closing of an $88 million Series A financing. The proceeds from the Series A will be used to advance the company’s lead therapeutic candidates into clinical development, with an initial focus in rare genetic and immune disorders. I caught up with Aro Biotherapeutics Susan Dillon, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO to learn more about mass production of Centyrins, their line of RNA-based therapies, and more.

2. A Recap Of ARM’s Cell And Gene Therapy State Of The Industry And Panel Discussion 1/14/2021

   During JP Morgan 2021, ARM’s CEO Janet Lambert and her team crafted an extremely informative Cell and Gene Therapy State of the Industry address. During her address, Lambert provided a look back at 2020’s highlights and challenges. She stated that COVID-19 provided disruptions to clinical trials. Regulatory was slammed with COVID-19-related demands and had less bandwidth for cell and gene therapies, and the political climate posed problems to sector. The sector had a recording-setting year in terms of financing with $20 billion in investment in this space — more than double in 2019. Public financing was especially strong in 2020, and IPOs were double the previous record set in 2018.

3. The Business Of Biotech Cell & Gene Miniseries Kicks Off With Selecta 1/11/2021

   My colleague, Chief Editor of Bioprocess Online’s Matt Pillar, hosts The Business of Biotech podcast, and I’m guest hosting a five-part miniseries focused on cell and gene therapy. Throughout the miniseries, you’ll hear from executives from Acepodia, Orchard Therapeutics, Celyad Oncology, and Sio Gene Therapies. You’ll hear about manufacturing wins and fumbles, unmet medical need, the participant’s path to the C-suite, and more.

4. How Biotechs Shape CDMO Capabilities 12/16/2020

   CEO Tom Hochuli and President and Managing Director Dr. Stefan Beyer answer my questions about how biotechs have helped shape the new facility’s capabilities.

5. Inside Omega Therapeutics’ Epigenomic Controllers™ 12/1/2020

   Omega Therapeutics is developing novel engineered and modular therapeutics, called Omega Epigenomic Controllers™, that are designed to target with high specificity and downregulate or upregulate the level of expression of any of the 25,000+ human genes, individually or collectively, with controlled durability, to treat and potentially cure disease.

6. The Ethical Implications Of Editing A Genome 11/25/2020

   CRISPR is in fact safe if used in the appropriate context. Indeed, we have already seen quite a few trials emerge where they propose to use CRISPR for Tay-Sachs disease, congenital blindness, as well as more creative approaches to use CRISPR gene editing for cancer immunotherapy.

7. The History Of CRISPR-CAS9 Gene Editing Tool 11/25/2020

   The concept of gene editing has been around for decades. CRISPR-CAS9 is a gene editing tool. If we look at gene editing tools, they have been around for quite some time. CRISPR is the most recent iteration of gene editing tools, and it has enabled in a very flexible and cost-efficient manner to edit the genome.

8. Inside Bone Therapeutics, Catalent Pharma Solutions Manufacturing Partnership 11/17/2020

   Catalent Pharma Solutions recently completed the acquisition of Bone Therapeutics’ manufacturing subsidiary, Skeletal Cell Therapy Support SA (SCTS). Following completion of the transaction, SCTS’ manufacturing infrastructure and production operating teams have now become part of Catalent’s Cell & Gene Therapy division. I caught up with Miguel Forte, CEO of Bone Therapeutics to learn more about what this acquisition means for the clinical and commercial manufacturing of the company’s ALLOB therapy.

9. Dr. Peter Marks’ Advancing Cell And Gene Therapies Presentation At Meeting On The Mesa, A Q&A 10/29/2020

   Janet Lambert, CEO of ARM talked to Dr. Peter Marks, Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), FDA, after he delivered his presentation, Advancing Cell and Gene Therapies: Where Do We Go from Here? In case you missed the session, here are some of the questions he addressed at the conclusion of his talk. 

10. Castle Creek Biosciences’ D-Fi To Be Manufactured At In-House cGMP 10/29/2020

    John Maslowski, Castle Creek Biosciences’ CEO and I discussed the company’s plan to manufacture D-Fi at its in-house cGMP, commercial scale facility and what that means for the cell and gene sector.