Joint research agreement to develop viral vector tech, says Matica Bio

Matica Bio and Sartorius have entered a joint research agreement to develop advanced viral vector manufacturing technology.

Matica Biotechnology, a contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) that specializes in the clinical and commercial production of cell and gene therapies (CGTs), will work on various studies with German life sciences firm Sartorius to streamline and optimize PAT technologies, automation software, and single-use platforms offered by Sartorius for large scale vector production.

According to Matica, together both companies will tackle the challenges associated with large-scale culture, viral vector production, improving manufacturability and reducing the financials costs of CGTs, oncolytic vectors, and vaccines.

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“Matica Bio’s development, manufacturing and quality teams have decades of viral vector production experience,” said Michael Stewart chief technology officer at Matica.

“Applying our expertise together with Sartorius’ industry-leading single-use and PAT technologies will allow us to provide more robust, consistent results for our clients, guiding informed decision-making throughout the manufacturing process and accelerating the overall development timeline to the clinic and market.”

“Process Analytical Technologies or PAT’s are technologies that allow for the monitoring, tracking and trending of one or more critical process parameters (CPP’s) of a manufacturing process.  Ideally this monitoring is in-line (no disruptive sampling during the mfg process is required) and in real time. Examples can range from process chemistries such as pH, concentration of various metabolites, to temperature , to turbidity to cell counts.  Applying these capabilities to biologics production to gather data essentially in real time is still relatively new and is a powerful tool for improving performance and controlling costs,” the firm told us.

Additionally, the CDMO claims the joint research agreement inked with Sartorius establishes Matica’s commitment to applying specific technology and bioprocess solutions to address manufacturing complexities such as decrease of labor and risk while optimizing output efficiencies in the production of viral vector products and advanced therapies.

“Matica Bio will be working with technologies to better assess both upstream cell culture and downstream purification and product recovery,” the firm said.