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Background Gene-engineered cell therapy patients have typically already received several rounds of prior cancer treatments with diminishing returns, presenting with rapidly advancing disease of high unmet medical need. The need to manufacture and release clinical cell therapy products in a timely manner is paramount to potentially benefit patients. With the majority of currently approved TIL, CAR and TCR T cell productions involving many days to weeks of ex vivo culture in preparation for final formulation, it is crucial to shorten post-production activities to drive faster product release and thus shorter vein-to vein times for patients.Methods At Verismo, to supply cell products to patients in a timelier manner, we conducted gap analyses and set new release processes allowing for quick and flexible adaptive responses, while maintaining patient safety and stringent drug product quality attributes. We implemented quality agreements and procedures to allow faster documentation review cycles and provide rapid response triggers in cases where cell product batch non-conformances occurred. Additionally, the hyper selection and implementation of a CDMO that could manufacture 7 days a week aided in alleviating previously identified scheduling constraints at clinical sites.Results We found that a mix of changes to procedures, testing methods, out-of-specification (OOS)/deviation responses, and increasing shipping flexibility helped secure a faster turn-around time for delivering patient material. An early electronic master batch record (eMBR) system allowed for greater transparency and expedited exception review than a paper MBR, which required added days of internal and external Sponsor reviews. Additionally, the eMBR removed operator and calculation errors that can hold up product release. We established timelines in quality agreements for deviations and OOS turnaround times to adhere to, regardless of criticality. The validation of rapid microbiological testing methods early-on also improved both vein-to-vein time and long-term data analysis results.Conclusions It’s important from the conceptualization of setting up the batch release process to apply quality concepts in establishing a flexible and transparent working relationship with the manufacturing site. Understanding abilities and limitations of each manufacturing partner upfront is imperative to achieving more rapid patient batch release without compromising drug product quality or patient safety. By implementing the methods above, we were able to shorten vein-to-vein timelines by about 2 weeks to meet patient needs.