Title
Producer cell line engineering for large volume manufacturing of therapeutic AAV
Conference Dates
January 27-31, 2019
Abstract
Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAV) are among the most promising gene therapy delivery vectors for treating patients with genetic abnormalities. rAAV can safely deliver long-lasting expression of a therapeutic transgene to target cells. Multiple studies using rAAV have demonstrated sustained transgene expression in cultured cells and pre-clinical models, suggesting that rAAV could provide a cure for certain diseases. Moreover, bioengineering advancements have expanded the viral tropism beyond the constraints of naturally occurring AAV capsids, increasing the cell types that can be thought of as targets. Taken together, rAAV therapies have attractive qualities to safely address the needs of patients where other modalities may fall short. One challenge with therapeutic rAAV is the ability to generate enough virus for clinical trials and commercial supply. This challenge is particularly true with neuromuscular or hemophilia patients in which doses can exceed 1 x 1014 viral genomes per patient. Typical yields from a rAAV production are around 104 viral genomes per cell, meaning batch cell numbers would need to exceed 1010 for a single dose. These doses require a robust, scalable platform to generate quantities of rAAV to meet patient demand. Biogen has selected the producer cell line (PCL) platform to meet the large demand for therapeutic rAAV. A PCL is a stable cell line engineered to contain the ITR flanked transgene of interest and AAV sequences needed to produce rAAV upon addition of helper virus. We will present our rationale for selecting the PCL platform as a cost-effective manufacturing strategy for gene therapy programs as well as current technical improvements and our vision for the next generation PCL platform.
Recommended Citation
Jennifer Baerenwald, Samantha Davis, John Pieracci, Adam D’Amato, and Mark Tié, "Producer cell line engineering for large volume manufacturing of therapeutic AAV" in "Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI", Dolores Baksh, GE Healthcare, USA Rod Rietze, Novartis, USA Ivan Wall, Aston University, United Kingdom Eds, ECI Symposium Series, (2019). https://dc.engconfintl.org/cell_gene_therapies_vi/4