Advancing cell therapy manufacturing

Held at the Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park, the symposium highlighted innovation at the crossroads of science, engineering, and healthcare policy, reflecting Norway’s growing prominence in the field of advanced cell and gene therapies.

Driving the future

Among the keynote speakers, Dr. Ulrike Kohl, MD, PhD, Institute Director / University Professor, discussed the future of cell and gene therapy, emphasizing the importance of mass personalization, predictive biomarkers, and cost efficiency in next-generation treatments.

She underscored the critical role of automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence in building robust GMP manufacturing processes, a comprehensive quality system that ensures products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards appropriate for their intended use. She was pointing to the SaxoCell Cluster and the European AIDPATH program as leading examples of this innovation.

Calling for stronger collaboration across Europe, Dr. Kohl stressed the need for strategic alignment among research and manufacturing efforts, mapping out and coordinating efforts and trials in Europe.

“Because without that we will lose. Already more than 90% of the clinical solid tumor gene therapy trials are in the US and China, and only 10% in Europe,” said Dr. Kohl.

Expanding patient access

Dr. Manel Juan, Head of Section of Immunopathology Hospital Clínic Barcelona, addressed one of the field’s most urgent challenges: patient access to CAR T-cell therapy.

Despite multiple product approvals, he noted that “probably less than 6%” of eligible patients in Europe currently have access to these life-saving treatments, citing high costs and limited production capacity as major barriers to widespread implementation.

To address the high costs and limited production, his Barcelona team developed an in-house process for making lentivirus and CAR T-cells (ARI products) under Spain’s hospital exemption rule, allowing authorization and reimbursement.

Natural killer cell immunotherapy

Lamberto Torralba-Raga, research scientist at the Department of Cancer Immunology, Oslo University Hospital, presented groundbreaking research on the therapeutic potential of Natural Killer (NK) cells and strategies to enhance their anti-tumor function, focusing on overcoming immune evasion via a critical immune checkpoint pathway that regulates the activity of immune cells (HLA-E/NKG2A axis).

He explained that NK cell responses are governed by a balance between activating and inhibitory receptors, with NKG2A binding to HLA-E on tumor cells, a key mechanism tumors use to suppress immune attack.

“And the good thing about these adaptive NK cells is that they present memory-like features, very similar to T-cells, in the sense that you will have stronger responses, but they persist a bit longer,” said Torralba-Raga.