European Innovation Council Awards €2.5 Million Grant to Trince, NecstGen, and IBSAL for Advancing Cell Therapy Manufacturing

[Ghent, Leiden, Salamanca, 15/03/2024] – Following a rigorous selection process by an expert panel, Trince, NecstGen, and IBSAL are proud to announce that their “Penphomet” project has been selected by The European Innovation Council (EIC) for a significant grant of €2.5 million. Out of 257 eligible submissions, Penphomet is one of the 27 that has been awarded. Led by Trince, the consortium aims to revolutionize cell therapy manufacturing by integrating nanotechnology, optics, and microfluidics.

Cell therapy has shown promising results in cancer treatment, specifically using patient-derived cells like T cells and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) that have been genetically engineered to effectively target cancer cells.

The primary focus of the Penphomet project is to develop a safer, non-viral method for cell engineering that minimally impacts cell functionality and phenotype. The aim is to significantly reduce the costs associated with cell therapy manufacturing.

Over three years, the project aims to deliver a fully automated, high-throughput system that can be installed in centralized cell production facilities or integrated into point-of-care cell manufacturing equipment.

“We are grateful for the EIC’s support in funding the Penphomet project. It demonstrates that our breakthrough technology is addressing a crucial gap in the field of cell therapy,” said Philip Mathuis, CEO at Trince. “Together with our partners NecstGen and IBSAL, we are committed to advancing cell therapy manufacturing, ultimately benefiting patients and healthcare systems.”

“NecstGen is proud to be a part of the Penphomet consortium supporting the further development of the innovative technology of Trince. Non-viral methods for cell engineering represent a potentially cost saving route for cell engineered therapies. And furthering their use is important for the field of Cell and Gene Therapy and mission of NecstGen to enable patient access” said Paul Bilars, CEO, NecstGen.

“For the IBSAL and its main partners, the University Hospital and the University of Salamanca, the Penphomet project opens the possibility of exploring a new strategy of cell modification that can be enormously attractive for the next generation of advanced therapy medical products, and we are really pleased to be part of this initiative,” says Prof. Fermin Sanchez-Guijo, principal investigator of the IBSAL in this project.

The Penphomet project represents a significant advancement in improving the accessibility and affordability of cell therapies, with the potential for far-reaching impacts on cancer treatment and beyond.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

[Philip Mathuis]

[Trince]

[+32 9 273 56 25]

[info@trincebio.com]

---

Trince

Trince offers a unique intracellular delivery (transfection) technology for the life sciences/biotech field. The LumiPore platform is based on the interaction between pulsed laser light and photothermal nanomaterial. By irradiating the proprietary nanoparticles with laser light, highly localized light-induced thermal and mechanical forces are generated. When these forces come into contact with the cell membrane, they create temporary pores through which external effector molecules can enter the cell. This ‘photoporation’ technology was developed as a next-generation intracellular delivery platform for efficient, flexible gentle, and safe delivery of a wide variety of effector molecules in a broad range of primary and hard-to-transfect cells, while maintaining high therapeutic quality. The technology can deliver a diverse set of payloads in various hard-to-transfect cell types, including suspension and adherent cells (directly in a standard lab recipient) and even living tissue slices.

NecstGen

NecstGen is a non-profit CDMO and centre of excellence for Cell and Gene Therapy, located in a purpose-built GMP facility on the largest bio-cluster in the Netherlands, Leiden Bio Science Park.  NecstGen provides critical contract development, manufacturing and rental services to academic and industrial therapy developers to deliver a new generation of therapies to patients.

NecstGen offers:

• Full contract manufacturing services for Cell Therapy and Viral Vector
• Process design, scale-up, optimisation and automation for Cell Therapy and Viral Vector
• Assay development for in-process, release, and potency
• Cleanroom rental including services for QA, QC, and QP.

IBSAL

The Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL) is part of IECSCYL (The Fundación Instituto de Estudios de Ciencias de la Salud de Castilla y León) and is one of the Biomedical Research Institutes accredited by the Carlos III Institute from the Spanish Ministry of Health (Order of February 17, 2014). IBSAL’s mission is to develop clinical and translational research, promoting synergy between clinical and basic research groups and optimizing resources through shared services and efficient management structures. One of the 6 areas of the Institute is Gene, Cell and Transplant Therapy, coordinated by Prof. Sánchez-Guijo. The location where the project tasks will be carried out is the Hematology Department of the University Hospital of Salamanca (HUS), also chaired by Prof Sanchez-Guijo. The Department provides services a.o. in cell therapy, includes a GMP Facility and a Translational Research Lab, and has extensive experience in the preclinical and clinical development and management of ATMPs, especially MSCs but also CAR T cells. 

EIC Transition projects focus on results generated by EIC Pathfinder, FET (Future and Emerging Technologies – as the predecessor of EIC Pathfinder)  or European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept projects, to mature the technologies and build a business case for specific applications. Grants of up to €2.5 million are available to validate and demonstrate technology in application-relevant environment and develop market readiness. 

Through this intended partnership, NecstGen will support the further development and manufacture of Cline’s cell therapy for damaged cartilage, StemCART. StemCART is an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) that aims to revolutionize the treatment of cartilage damage for patients worldwide. The Swedish therapy developer envisions to out-license StemCART to a commercial partner following successful in-human trial results.

Hanne Evenbratt, CEO of Cline Scientific: “This LOI is an important first step in Cline’s preparation for the clinical phases of StemCART and a principal component of the manufacturing strategy. We are very excited to move forward with the team at NecstGen and anticipate a prosperous collaboration.”

Paul Bilars, CEO of NecstGen: “We are happy to support Cline Scientific throughout this critical phase in the development of its StemCART therapy. This potential joint action is very much a demonstration of our mission to support organizations developing therapies for patients”

About Cline Scientific
Cline Scientific develops advanced cancer diagnostics and regenerative medicine treatments. Cline’s unique patented surface nanotechnology provides solutions to critical challenges for cell-based products and processes in Life Science. Cline is driving two projects through to a clinical-stage, StemCART – a stem cell therapy for joint repair, and CellRACE- a cancer diagnostic to predict metastasis.

About NecstGen
NecstGen is a centre of excellence for Cell and Gene Therapy, located in a large 4000m2 purpose-built GMP facility on the biggest bio-cluster in the Netherlands, Leiden Bio Science Park. NecstGen provides critical contract development, manufacturing and rental services to all therapy developers who aim to deliver the next generation of treatments to patients. For more information visit www.necstgen.com.

Cline Scientific
Hanne Evenbratt, CEO. T: +46 0704887923 E: hanne.evenbratt@clinescientific.com

NecstGen
Tristan Pritchard-Meaker, Head of Business Development E: tristan@necstgen.com

Cell and Gene therapies are revolutionary treatments centered on using patient or donor cells, cultivated or modified outside of the body and re-introduced to the patient to induce the desired therapeutic effect. This complex field of therapies has opened the door to long-term cures for diseases such as cancers and orphan diseases and offers hope to patients and clinicians alike. However, the development and manufacture of safe and effective treatments, that can reach large numbers of patients, present many challenges. Scientist must ensure not only that their advanced therapy is effective it must also be manufactured in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory bodies and free off microbial contamination. They look to innovative microbiology companies, like bioMérieux, to provides solutions that will enable them to release safe medicines onto the market. 

Thanks to this new partnership, CGT researchers and manufacturers, hosted at NecstGen, will benefit from the solutions and services provided by bioMérieux to monitor and test their products and processes. bioMérieux rapid methods for Sterility testing, Mycoplasma detection and Endotoxin testing that form part of the partnership will allow them to realize good manufacturing practice (GMP) compliance and to overcome constraints specific to advanced therapies including product sacrifice for sampling, complexity of sample composition, and the need to reduce vein to vein time. Breaking down the testing bottlenecks, will help accelerate CGT development and improve access to these much-needed medicines for patients.

 Christie Downing-Kay, Head of Marketing for Northern Europe Cluster, bioMérieux comments, “CGT’s are the third horizon of medicine and have the potential to cure conditions, such as ‘orphan’ diseases, previously deemed incurable. bioMérieux is passionate about supporting the development of CGT’s and believe this collaboration with NecstGen will provide synergies that will benefit this promising field and help bring medicines to the patients that need them”.

NecstGen, is a centre of excellence for CGT, providing critical contract development, manufacturing and rental services to therapy developers to deliver a new generation of therapies to patients., NecstGen is located in a purpose-built GMP facility on the largest bio-cluster in the Netherlands, Leiden Bio Science Park.

Paul Bilars, CEO at NecstGen added “We are very happy to engage in this collaboration and share knowledge in CGT manufacturing and Quality Control. Ultimately, this partnership will help us to offer our clients the best support and access to state-of-the-art systems to advance the development of their next generation therapies.”

This collaboration with NecstGen is the culmination of developing solutions adapted to the constraints of this market, as well as educational content to support the key players in the production of CGT as underlined by Michaël Reynier (Sr Vice President for the Pharma Quality Control Business, bioMérieux): “We are very pleased to join forces with NecstGen to offer CGT developers a strong portfolio of value-added Quality Control solutions within a state-of-the-art Cell Therapy development and GMP manufacturing environment to speed up path to the market and release of life saving advanced therapies.”

Overcoming complex manufacturing challenges and ensuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of cell and gene therapies administered to patients is critical. That’s why bioMérieux delivers a proven portfolio of value-added solutions to add rapid and easy-to-use technologies to operations and bring overall efficiencies to the manufacturing process through both simplified workflows and accurate, actionable results to ensure patient safety.