My last post gave a short introduction to the manufacture of in vitro transcribed (IVT) messenger RNA (mRNA) for vaccines and therapies, outlining the steps from preclinical to clinical stages of production. In this post, I’ll touch on manufacturing considerations, beginning with the upstream process for IVT mRNA.
Witnessing firsthand the growth of cell and gene therapy to progress more programs to the bedside is an exciting time in the biotechnology industry, particularly with new partnership approaches being developed. I was able to get an overview of one particular partnership during a podcast featuring Tom Foti, VP of Protein Business unit at Aldevron, and Kris Saha, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Medical History and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin.
For more than two decades, in vitro transcribed (IVT) messenger RNA (mRNA) has been considered for its potential to address unmet medical needs and to transform the development and manufacture of medicines. This potential was suddenly realized by the unprecedented response to Covid 19, ushering in a new era in the application of mRNA technologies to solve challenging health problems.
Every year, October marks the change in the season, the dropping of temperatures, and the height of conference season for biotech. This year’s ESGCT meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, was the event’s first in-person occurrence since 2019, and it was exciting to be back – Edinburgh didn’t disappoint! There was rich dialogue amongst industry experts, healthy attendance with over 2,000 delegates, exceptional networking events, and the city of Edinburgh was a joy with several unseasonably sunny days.
As one of the most significant discoveries in gene and cell therapy, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing systems continue to evolve. In this webinar, “Genome Editing Tools: Beyond Discovery,” Aldevron experts Dr. Jim Williams and Max Sellman detail innovative tools to support gene editing clinical programs, highlighting Nanoplasmids as an HDR template paired with Cas9 nucleases in CAR-T applications.
While research into RNA, including mRNA and related derivatives, has been ongoing for almost 50 years, it’s taken the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the development of vaccines using this technology. mRNA provides an incredible opportunity to develop new treatments for viral based, genetically driven, or cancerous diseases.
