Charles River and Captain T Cell sign agreement for plasmid DNA and viral vector production program

Charles River Laboratories International Inc. and Captain T Cell, a spinoff of the Max Delbrück Center Berlin, Germany, have signed an agreement to produce plasmid DNA and retrovirus vectors.

As part of Charles River's Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Accelerator Program (CAP), Captain T Cell will have access to the capabilities and consulting services of established contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) for plasmid and viral vectors prior to Captain T Cell's plan to produce a TCR T cell therapy for patients with solid tumors for a Phase I clinical trial.

Reaching new patient groups with T-cell immunotherapies

To provide new patient populations with access to T cell immunotherapies, Captain T Cell is developing treatment options with improved efficacy for the therapy of solid tumors. Using a toolbox of next-generation technologies, Captain T Cell generates T cells with tumor-specific T cell receptors (TCRs) and improved persistence and the ability to deal with the hostile tumor microenvironment of difficult-to-treat solid tumors. Once infused into a patient's body, these tumor-specific T cells are engineered to find and destroy tumor cells. This therapeutic approach could provide an option for patients with tumors that no longer respond to other therapies.

To bring its gene-modified cell therapy into the clinic, Captain T Cell will leverage Charles River's decades-long optimized plasmid and viral vector production capabilities to support CGT developers from preclinical to commercial development.

Over the past few years, Charles River has significantly expanded its cell and gene therapy portfolio through several acquisitions, integrations and expansions to simplify complex supply chains and meet the growing demand for plasmid DNA, viral vectors and cell therapy services. Combined with its existing testing capabilities, Charles River offers a best-in-class concept-to-cure solution for advanced therapies.

“We are very pleased to partner with the team at Captain T Cell to manufacture their TCR T cell cancer immunotherapy. Charles River has decades of experience in reliably manufacturing plasmid DNA, viral vectors and cell therapies, enabling us to secure our customer programs and bring potential therapies to patients with limited options,” noted Kerstin Dolph, Corporate Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing, Charles River.

Felix Lorenz, CEO of Captain T Cell, said: “Captain T Cell is dedicated to developing a new generation of tool-based T cell immunotherapies for patients with solid tumors. We have complete confidence in Charles River’s expertise as we work to advance our lead candidate into the clinic.”