Australian biotechnology company Cartherics, which is developing immune cell therapies for cancer and other diseases, has been awarded a US$300,000 G-Rex grant to support clinical manufacturing of its lead product CTH-401 for upcoming clinical trials.
The G-Rex Grant Program is a US$20 million initiative by ScaleReady, Wilson Wolf Manufacturing, and CellReady designed to advance cell and gene therapies (CGT).
Cartherics will use its grant to purchase equipment and reagents to support its R&D and manufacturing programs, specifically platform assessment, method development and upscaling CTH-401 for clinical trials.
Cartherics CEO Professor Alan Trounson said, “We’ve taken an ambitious step to streamline our product R&D and manufacturing under one roof. This integrated approach positions us to seamlessly transition from pioneering pre-clinical research to clinical manufacturing — all within the same facility. The G-Rex Grant will play a crucial role in advancing our research and development efforts, bringing us closer to our goal of delivering innovative treatments to patients in need, particularly in the fight against cancer and other difficult diseases.”
Cartherics head of clinical manufacturing, Dr Damien Zanker, added, “Investing in our own manufacturing capability allows us to be more nimble in product development time, save money and further utilise the expertise of our scientists who have developed our manufacturing processes rather than being required to tech transfer capabilities with limited long term knowledge gain.”
“G-Rex is the ideal platform for the large-scale manufacture of Cartherics’ allo CAR-iNK cells. With the allo CAR-iNK’s having demonstrated complete eradication of human ovarian cancer cells in mice, we are eager to help Cartherics optimise manufacturing for application in human trials,” added John Wilson, co-inventor of G-Rex and CEO of Wilson Wolf and CellReady.
