Cell and Gene Therapy (ATMP)

The development of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), such as gene and cell therapy products, has made significant progress in the treatment of many diseases, including cancer, genetic, and autoimmune disorders.

With the promise to enhance treatment, greatly reduce side effects, and potentially cure many types of diseases and disorders, these therapies are in high demand, and biopharma companies are in a race to the clinic. However, these technologies are very complex in nature and are vastly different than traditional biopharmaceutical products, especially when it comes to the use of these products for personalized medicine. The complexities span the development pipeline, creating challenges for manufacturing, testing requirements, regulatory approval, and commercialization.

Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing network of laboratories supports the development of ATMPs both for traditional use as well as for use in personalized medicine. We provide comprehensive GMP-compliant CMC testing support to ensure the identity, potency, purity, and safety of starting materials, intermediate products, vectors, and final drug products as well as support for manufacturing process development and validation.

• Gene Therapies – Viral Vector, Nanoparticle Vector, Plasmid Based, iRNA/mRNA
• Cell Therapies – Autologous, Allogeneic, Xenogeneic
• Viral Vaccines/Oncolytic Viral Therapies
• Oncolytic Peptide Vaccines

Raw Materials

Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing network of laboratories is experienced in evaluating critical quality attributes (CQAs) of a diverse range of ancillary and raw materials, including monographed and non-monographed materials, such as chemically defined growth media, process buffers, cytokines, growth factors, and enzymes using platform GMP methods as well as customized methods developed to fit unique client needs.

Our 20 years of biopharmaceutical testing experience, dedicated teams of 150 raw materials scientists, and state-of-the-art instrumentation allow us to quickly establish methods so routine samples can be tested and reported in 8-10 business days.

Cell Banks

Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing offers expert capabilities for the preparation and characterization of a wide variety of mammalian and insect cell banks. We offer GMP production of master and working cell banks, GMP non-production (reagent or bioassay) master and working cell banks and R&D cell banks as well as banking for end-of-production cells upon request. We perform all GMP production cell banking in our Grade A/B or ISO5/7 clean room suites in accordance with EMA and/or FDA requirements and prepare all other banks in clean cell-culture labs where no work with adventitious agents occurs. We also support characterization of cell banks, including sterility, mycoplasma, adventitious and endogenous viruses, identity and genetic stability. Additional tests that may be needed include transgene expression and biochemical and cell-surface markers.

Virus Banks

Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing provides extensive services for the characterization of your viral banks to ensure identity, potency, and safety prior to the use of these vectors in production. We support characterization of viral banks, including sterility, mycoplasma, adventitious viruses, identity, infectious and genomic titers, and replication-competent virus testing.

Plasmid GMP Testing

Plasmids are critical for the production of traditional biologics and gene therapies, enabling the programming of cells to perform work that these cells were not originally designed to complete. Whether a bio/pharmaceutical company is using 1 or more plasmids, E. coli or alternative production systems, Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing can provide the full range of plasmid GMP release testing options to ensure purity and sequence accuracy, including sterility, mycoplasma, endotoxin, and E. coli residual testing.

Viral Vector Harvest

Eurofins BioPharma Product Testing offers a streamlined cGMP approach to viral vector harvest testing. Our experienced team will help you ensure product purity and safety in order to move your product into downstream purification faster and with less risk of contamination.

As part of our Harvest Testing package, we offer tests, including bioburden, mycoplasma testing (compendial and rapid), in vitro viral screening, and virus specific qPCR assays with test reports within 35 calendar days and interim results upon request. Additional tests include infectious titer or tests for the presence of replication-competent viruses.

Bulk and Finished Products

To meet the critical quality attributes of identity, potency, purity, safety, and stability it is common for ATMPs to have over 30 methods to test bulk and finished products for release to the clinic or market. Eurofins Biopharma Product Testing network of laboratories offers the most comprehensive cGMP method establishment, characterization, ICH method validation, release and stability testing of any contract testing laboratory. We have developed and validated numerous assays to evaluate products and impurities, such as product and process residuals, in a wide variety of methodologies, including bioassay, ELISA, qPCR, chromatography and MS applications. For most products, we have the ability to establish all methods and execute all tests at one location. We also offer 110,000 cubic feet of stability storage as well as dedicated laboratories and staff for stability and release testing.

Cell Therapy

We provide full GMP testing support for allogeneic and autologous cell therapies.  We can support the traditional/compendial based testing for allogeneic products that are stable when frozen down and also support the progressive newer testing methodologies for rapid release testing for autologous products with a limited shelf life.

• We offer comprehensive cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, biosafety, and microbiology testing through one testing partner.
• We have provided cGMP-compliant testing support to gene and cell therapy sponsors for over 10 years and also support most contract manufacturers focused on ATMPs.
• We have vast experience in supporting cell and gene therapy manufacturing from early clinical, through process validation, product optimization, and marketed release.
• We have the laboratory capacity, BSL2 facilities, and state-of-the-art instrumentation to meet regulatory requirements and turnaround times for cell and gene therapy products.
• Our specialized sample delivery and receipt process ensures seamless communication between our lab and yours and expedites your samples into our laboratory.
• Our secure 24/7 online data portal, LabAccess.com, provides timely access to your test results.
• Our experienced project management and technical teams serve as your single-source solution for all of your testing needs.

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