Cell & Gene Collaborative Blog

91. “Ancillary Materials” 9/15/2021

    Your latest glimpse into the non-work-related stories that amused or intrigued me over the past few weeks. I don’t know about you, but my brain (sort of) feels bigger now.    

92. CTO Shares Secrets To A Successful Cell & Gene Therapy Supply Chain Strategy 9/8/2021

    “It’s not exactly rocket science,” Ludek Sojka, CTO, SOTIO, admitted during our conversation on managing raw material supplier relationships to better control overall C&G therapy COGS. However, the past year has proven that securing a reliable supply of raw materials will — despite our best intentions — always be an evergreen challenge. A great reminder of this came in the form of a survey earlier this year revealing that dual-source supply chains — though they are regularly heralded as essential — still remain mythical for 50 percent of advanced therapy survey respondents.

93. ARW's C&G Manufacturing Must-Reads 8/27/2021

    Day-in and day-out, I write, read, listen to, and watch as much content as I can about C&G therapy manufacturing, in particular, and/or other C&G industry-related topics that you should at least be aware of in the manufacturing facility. Every two weeks, I compile the articles and industry updates I think are most worthy of your time into an unconventional newsletter format (below) and send them out via email. But inboxes can be shifty places. (Cue George Carlin on “Losing Things.”)

94. “Ancillary Materials” 8/25/2021

    Over the past few weeks, I feel as though I have spent a significant amount of time thinking about, reading about, and writing about cell culture. So, to balance that out, here’s a bit of non-cell-related culture for the benefit of your brain (and mine).

95. Reducing Lentiviral Vector COGS: A Love Story 8/25/2021

    When it comes to the world of viral vectors, it’s would seem that AAV is the best-dressed Belle of the C&G industry’s current ball. It’s rare that I stumble upon thought leadership and/or conversations around the future of AAV’s (seemingly but not really) homely best friend, the lentiviral vector. (If you’re a fan of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, I keep thinking of LVV as Charlotte Lucas who ends up marrying Mr. Collins, who is the absolute worst.) 

96. C&G Manufacturing Utopia: Mapping The Journey Towards End-To-End Automation 8/25/2021

    To an outsider, the cell and gene therapy industry’s journey towards realizing a fully closed, automated, and decentralized cell therapy manufacturing paradigm could be the seed of the eighth Harry Potter novel. (Scrap the Ministry of Magic; when Harry grew up, he took his powers to Pharma.) Eliminating the industry’s overall reliance on manual, impossible-to-scale processes is a forefront goal for first-generation cell and gene therapy players and tech providers. But like anything worthwhile, there are many steps and barriers along the way to such a future — including the establishment of the appropriate technologies and infrastructure to bolster a more informed and automated future.

97. ARW's C&G Manufacturing Must-Reads 8/13/2021

    Day-in and day-out, I write, read, listen to, and watch as much content as I can about C&G therapy manufacturing, in particular, and/or other C&G industry-related topics that you should at least be aware of in the manufacturing facility. Every two weeks, I compile the articles and industry updates I think are most worthy of your time into an unconventional newsletter format (below) and send them out via email. But inboxes can be shifty places. (Cue George Carlin on “Losing Things.”)

98. The Unspoken Truth Of Bluebird Bio's EU Misadventures 8/12/2021

    It’s somehow that time of year again when my colleague Dan Schell at Life Science Leader magazine taps me on the shoulder and says it’s time to start thinking about your year-end outlook article. This will be the first year I’m covering the C&G manufacturing/outsourcing space and determining which trends and challenges will take shape and evolve in 2022.

99. “Ancillary Materials” 8/12/2021

    I have traveled to the edges of the Internet and emerged with 6 cool things I just couldn’t pass up. Only one of these will be truly dangerous for your productivity at work — I’ll leave you to figure out which one that might be. You’re welcome.  

100. How To Approach Build vs. Buy Like A Boss 8/10/2021

     There’s seemingly more pain than pleasure in the advanced therapies outsourcing paradigm today, thanks in part to talent, capacity, and supply crunches. As much as I hate to say it, this is likely to be the reality we continue to face in the near-term. In a recent report, “U.S. Pharma Market 2022 and Beyond,” CPhI Insights predicts that we can expect capacity demand —especially for viral vectors — will keep growing over the next two to three years. (Thanks, COVID.) In turn, there will be a greater push on the CDMO side, particularly amongst the bigger CDMOs, to keep building, acquiring, or snapping up pre-existing facilities.