The project aims to identify more efficient and cost-effective ways to produce and analyse gene therapies.
Research Ireland and pharmaceutical company APC will co-fund a €2m collaborative research project focused on gene therapies.
To be funded for the next five years, Research Ireland and APC, in partnership with the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) and University College Dublin (UCD), will work on the TRANS-AM (Transformation of Advanced Medicines Manufacture) project.
The project will address key elements of how advanced gene therapies are created and tested, exploring new approaches to make the process more efficient and effective. Currently, low yield, inconsistent quality and limited understanding has made the process of creating advanced therapies expensive and difficult.
Addressing these challenges would represent a significant opportunity for the biopharma sector in Ireland, providing long-term societal impact by lowering treatment costs and giving the general public increased access to advanced therapies.
Research is being led by Prof Niall Barron, who is a principal investigator (PI) at NIBRT and professor of biochemical engineering in the School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering at UCD. His co-PIs are Dr Jessica Whelan at UCD, Dr Jonathan Bones at NIBRT, Dr Ioscani Jimenez del Val at UCD and Dr Colin Clarke at NIBRT.
Commenting on the news, Barron said, “We warmly welcome this significant and timely investment by Research Ireland and APC Ltd. In recent years, several examples of a new class of medicines, gene therapies, have been approved for use in Ireland and internationally. These medicines are revolutionary, in that they are designed to replace faulty genes within the patient.
“In some cases, the patient is effectively cured. These gene therapies are delivered most efficiently by viruses (eg AAV – adeno-associated virus), which are made using living cells grown in large vessels. This manufacturing process contributes to their high cost. Our research, in partnership with APC Ltd and VLE, aims to identify more efficient and effective ways to produce and analyse these therapies to reduce the cost of manufacturing them. It’s a challenge we are looking forward to.”
Dr Fiona Killard-Lynch, the CSO at NIBRT added, “This is a powerful example of Ireland’s innovation system at its best, an indigenous industry leader partnering with NIBRT and UCD to accelerate advanced medicines. TRANS-AM will strengthen Ireland’s position in gene therapy manufacturing and develop the skilled workforce we need, while keeping affordability and patient impact at the centre.”
Announcing the funding at a visit to APC Ltd’s Cherrywood facility in Dublin, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless, TD described the project as a “truly collaborative partnership”.
“Through research partnerships like this, we are deepening collaboration with industry, an approach that can be instrumental in delivering groundbreaking research with real benefits for Irish society, our economy and our international reputation at the forefront of discovery.”
CEO of Research Ireland, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien said the TRANS-AM project is “well-positioned to conduct cutting-edge research in the emergent field of gene therapy that, in time, can address process optimisation and deliver cost efficiencies for patients”.
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