CPI and Cobra Biologics Partner in Regenerative Medicines Project

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), Cleveland and Cobra Biologics Ltd, Keele, are collaborating on the development of an Industrial Manufacturing Platform for Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) production. The £1.8M initiative is being funded to a value of £1.4M by Innovate UK via their 2015 competition for the development of regenerative medicines and cell therapies. It is one of five projects which together comprise an £8 million investment into collaborative R&D that aims to address critical challenges faced by UK companies specialising in this area of medicine.

Peter Coleman, CEO Cobra Biologics commented: “Cobra has been a leading organisation in the development of the gene therapy sector for over 15 years now through its plasmid DNA and viral service offerings. We have seen through our customers an extraordinary growth in new potential medicines being put forward that utilise viral vectors as part of their production, such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell therapies. The collaboration between Cobra and CPI will help to address the need for a scalable AAV production process to meet the current and future needs of the gene therapy and regenerative medicine community in clinical trials and commercial supply.”

Dr Fergal O’Brien, Director of Biologics at CPI said: “CPI is delighted to be collaborating with Cobra Biologics Ltd and applying our expertise in developing scalable and industrial manufacturing platforms to AAV production. We see this project as a key enabler in meeting the current and future needs of the biologics industry and are delighted to be supporting a leading UK company in this sector.”