Off-the-Shelf Cord Blood Mesenchymal Stem Cell Bank

Abstract 4403

Our hospital-based GMP facility, named Cell Factory, built in Milano (Italy) and the first one authorized by the National Drug Agency (AIFA) in 2007, has pioneered innovative manufacturing technologies in order to supply therapeutic clinical development programs.

By our group and by others, cord blood (CB) mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been already tested both in vitro and in extensive pre-clinical disease models, demonstrating that CBMSC are safe and effective. Therefore, CBMSC are the best candidate product for several clinical trials including neurologic and renal repair (1,–,3).

In this context, our group developed the first off-the-shelf (OTS) bank where CBMSC are expanded and banked in GMP conditions, and now they are available as “a drug”, to be distributed for patient doses, much like an off-the-shelf pharmaceutical product. From informed consent CB donations, CBMSC were grown and expanded in CellSTACK kit that includes devices for a closed-system cell culture (Macopharma) with EMEA-grade Australian FBS and they were manufactured through a multi-step controlled and well-validated process. Cell Factory established this innovative culture approach through sufficient passages to produce hundreds of thousands of potential doses from an individual donor. After culture, our quality control approach has been designed to ensure that controls are implemented and completed satisfactorily during manufacturing operations, and that developed procedures and specifications are appropriate and followed, including those performed by contract testing laboratories. In fact, at each step and at the end of the production process before cryopreservation, CBMSC were analyzed and qualified according to pre-established criteria (cell count, viability, extensive immunophenotype, CFU-F, karyotype, CGHArray, telomerase activity, sterility, mycoplasma and endotoxin assays) to ensure that a consistent, well characterized product candidate is produced. The same CBMSC batches can be provided for pre-clinical testing and for further validations to prepare the investigational medicinal product dossier (IMPD) for each clinical trial approvals.

Now these GMP batches of CBMSC are cryopreserved and available in our OTS CBMSC bank in different cell doses to comply any kind of medical needs. Products are provided under specific contract conditions developed with the clinical centers. (Contact: cellfactorypoliclinico@gmail.com)