Previously, we published a blog post on estimating hMSC lot sizes for clinical manufacturing, with the goal of outlining a development program that could tailor accordingly. This exercise is crucial because the calculated target cell lot size dictates the final production platform needed for your therapeutic product. The next step would be to determine the appropriate manufacturing platform, for each unit operation, that will meet the calculated hMSC lot sizes throughout clinical development. Having a solid, multi-year plan will help your company succeed at navigating this complex maze that is the path to market success.
The final decision of production platforms can be overwhelming; even though there is a certain goal in mind for the present time, you do want to keep it flexible and scalable for other potential applications in the future. There is also the goal of managing through the “Comparability Challenges” as these changes are implemented. Adding to the complexity is that as the RegenMed industry grows, the technology providers of cell processing platforms across the various unit operations seems to be increasing in a fractal nature, with little standardization across devices. These technologies (e.g. bioreactors, continuous centrifuges, fill finish/controlled freezing, and other automation platforms) are significant investments to the company in the form of cost and time. It is the technologist’s and engineer’s jobs to drive the technology platform decision making process by derisking these technologies and establishing a multi-year development program, all while determining the costs associated with the program, and communicating these needs to the company’s business team so that they can raise the needed capital for these programs over time.
The goal of this post is to lay out the various scales of hMSC production and highlight the existing technology platforms for the different unit operations involved in the manufacturing process. This will help define the requirements that will guide the company’s multi-year process development program to meet projected future lot sizes.
Each phase of a clinical trial is associated with a specific production scale, which dictates the production platform
At the end of the last post, we arrived at the following estimated lot sizes based on a set of assumptions: 525 billion viable hMSCs per final commercial manufacturing lot, assuming a mid-range dose for a cardiac indication aimed to treat 100,000 patients per year, with a relatively safe, conservative assumptions regarding losses in cell viability and recovery during every step of the production process. Assuming a go-to-market lot size of 20% of the full commercial scale, we estimated that one could target a 100B cell lot size for Phase III, a 25B cell lot size for Phase II, and potentially a 10B cell lot size for a Phase I trial. These are simply guidelines that will change based on assumptions, but we recommend everyone go through this exercise (as outlined here) for each therapeutic program.
“It is the technologist’s and engineer’s jobs to drive the technology platform decision making process”
The goal of this post is to lay out the various scales of hMSC production and highlight the existing technology platforms for the different unit operations involved in the manufacturing process. This will help define the requirements that will guide the company’s multi-year process development program to meet projected future lot sizes.
Each phase of a clinical trial is associated with a specific production scale, which dictates the production platform
At the end of the last post, we arrived at the following estimated lot sizes based on a set of assumptions: 525 billion viable hMSCs per final commercial manufacturing lot, assuming a mid-range dose for a cardiac indication aimed to treat 100,000 patients per year, with a relatively safe, conservative assumptions regarding losses in cell viability and recovery during every step of the production process. Assuming a go-to-market lot size of 20% of the full commercial scale, we estimated that one could target a 100B cell lot size for Phase III, a 25B cell lot size for Phase II, and potentially a 10B cell lot size for a Phase I trial. These are simply guidelines that will change based on assumptions, but we recommend everyone go through this exercise (as outlined here) for each therapeutic program.
