WILMINGTON, Mass.– Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) and Captain T Cell, a spinoff from the renowned Max Delbrück Center Berlin, Germany, today announced a plasmid DNA and retrovirus vector production program agreement. As part of Charles River’s Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Accelerator Program (CAP), Captain T Cell will have access to established plasmid and viral vector contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) capabilities and advisory services ahead of Captain T Cell’s plan to manufacture a TCR-T cell therapy for solid tumor patients for a Phase I clinical trial.
With the goal to give new patient groups access to T cell immunotherapies, Captain T Cell is developing efficacy-enhanced treatment options for solid tumor therapies. Using a toolbox of next-generation technologies, Captain T Cell generates T cells displaying tumor-specific T cell receptors (TCR) as well as enhanced persistence and the capacity to cope with the hostile tumor microenvironment of difficult-to-treat solid tumors. Once infused into a patient’s body, these tumor-specific T cells intend to find and destroy tumor cells. This therapeutic method may provide an option for patients with tumors that no longer respond to other therapies.
To bring its gene-modified cell therapy to clinic, Captain T Cell will leverage Charles River’s established plasmid and viral vector production capabilities, finetuned over decades supporting CGT developers from pre-clinical to commercial scale.
In recent years, Charles River has significantly broadened its cell and gene therapy portfolio with several acquisition integrations and expansions to simplify complex supply chains and meet growing demand for plasmid DNA, viral vector, and cell therapy services. Combined with its legacy testing capabilities, Charles River offers a premier “concept-to-cure” advanced therapies solution.
