WuXi and OXGENE Launch TESSA Technology to Meet Cell and Gene Therapy Scalability Demand
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WuXi Advanced Therapies have announced the launch of their Tetracycline-Enabled Self-Silencing Adenovirus (TESSA™) technology. Developed in collaboration with advanced technology providers OXGENE, TESSA™ will provide scalable AAV vector production for cell and gene therapies on a GMP level.
Phacilitate were joined by OXGENE and WuXi CSO Ryan Cawood, who introduced us to TESSA, to explain what it does and how it works.
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As the contract testing, development and manufacturing organizational unit of the global pharmaceutical manufacturing provider WuXi AppTec, WuXi ATU, provide integrated platforms for the development and commercialization of cell and gene therapies. Together with advanced technology providers OXGENE, the novel technology TESSA has been developed.
TESSA™ is a state-of-the-art process for large scale manufacturing of transfection-free AAV to GMP standards.
The AAV Vector is commonly used as a gene therapy delivery method for many disease’s including: Alzheimer’s and haemophilia. As demand for these gene therapies increases, so does the demand for AAV. The novel technology of the TESSA™ vector enables efficient large scale production of gene therapies.
“The TESSA™ system is a game changer for the manufacture of AAV and the advancement of cell and gene therapies to benefit patients. “By improving scalability, reducing process complexity and lowering the costs of gene therapy manufacture, TESSA™ will better enable our global partners to develop and deliver life-saving gene therapies faster to more patients in need,” notes Dr. Ryan Cawood, CSO of WuXi ATU.
Manufacturing AAV at an increased rate and scale, using TESSA™, will significantly reduce manufacturing costs of the advanced therapies. Importantly, it will also improve the accessibility, and crucially the speed of access, of patients to life-changing AAV vector based genetic therapeutics.
Published data shows that in the same manufacturing volume TESSA™ vectors can produce ten times more AAV than standard plasmid-based manufacture and therefore theoretically treat ten times the number of patients.
To ensure stable gene therapy production the novel TESSA™ technology is integrated with intricate testing capabilities. This allows for in-house assay development, biosafety, viral clearance and product release testing, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Ultimately, accelerating the product approval timeline.
The launch of TESSA™ is a positive step towards WuXi APppTec’s vision that “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.”
