Singapore-based pharmaceutical containment expert Esco Lifesciences Group and its affiliate CDRMO, Esco Aster, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Medical and Pharmaceutical Industry Technology Development Center (PITDC) Taiwan.
PITDC has signed in response to the next wave of advanced manufacturing as well as cGMP Standards in the cell therapy industry 4.0 and to consolidate Taiwan's competitive advantage in the burgeoning cell therapy industry.
The MOU was signed by Esco Aster CEO, Xiangliang (XL) Lin, and Ping-Lun Chiang, Director of the Department of Medical Engineering for PITDC.
This marks an important advancement in international cooperation in the field of stem cell production and bioreactor technology
Designing 3D Tide Motion bioreactor
The MoU details that Esco and PITDC will jointly invest in the development of 3D Tide Motion bioreactors to produce cGMP 3D mesenchymal stromal cells.
The collaboration will combine the key technologies of the PITDC stem cell innovation process with ESCO's advanced bioreactor technology first developed at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) Taiwan.
This marks an important advancement in international cooperation in the field of stem cell production and bioreactor technology.
Applications
The cellular therapy team of the Center for Medicinal Technology, under the subsidy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Science and Technology Program, has built an immunomodulatory precision cellular process technology to enhance the immunomodulatory function of mesenchymal stromal cells.
This technology has shown significant potential in the treatment of diseases such as organ transplantation anti-rejection and bone marrow fibrosis, which can improve the survival rate after transplantation and reduce the dependence on anti-rejection drugs.
The Center will cooperate with Esco Lifesciences Group to scale up the production of new cellular drug products, and Esco Aster will help PITDC to attract capital from Southeast Asia
In an animal model of bone marrow fibrosis, the technology is more effective than existing clinical drugs such as Jakavi in alleviating the symptoms of the disease.
PITDC has now completed the validation and patent application of this technology.
Esco Lifesciences Group and affiliate Esco Aster have completed GLP and cGMP-compliant facilities, and its tidal bioreactor has been widely used in international human and animal vaccine production, secretomes, cancer diagnostics, and exosomes.
The Center will cooperate with Esco Lifesciences Group to scale up the production of new cellular drug products, and Esco Aster will help PITDC to attract capital from Southeast Asia and facilitate international cooperation for the export of the whole clinical protocol for advanced medicinal therapies or otherwise known as cell, tissue or gene therapy products (CTGTP).
This collaboration is expected to accelerate the development of new stem cell therapies and bring new hope for the treatment of related diseases with high unmet need in fibrotic conditions such as myelofibrosis, cardiac stroke regeneration to aid recovery as well as post organ transplant for liver, kidney, and other organ transplant.
Image: Xiangliang (XL) Lin, CEO of ESCO ASTER (right), and Ping-Lun Chiang, Director of the Department of Medical Engineering for PITDC (left)
