Biotech firms Roche, Genzyme, Athersys, Miltenyi Biotec, Hospira, Lonza and Life Technologies are joining the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) to launch a series of initiatives to create greater strategic alignment within the industry and drive late stage clinical development.
Established in 1992, ISCT works to foster international translational research; inform national and global regulatory framework development and harmonization; drive commercialization strategies; and educate principal investigators, lab directors, technologists, regulators and commercial stakeholders, according to the society's website.
The society's industry task force, which includes these biotechs, has unveiled a series of recommendations to re-charter the ISCT Commercialization Committee to drive the creation of forums for discussion of shared concerns on process and product development, business models, and clinical development, and to catalyze the development of consensus standards.
"Working in partnership to develop standards around cell characterization and potency as well as treatment approaches and trial endpoint design we aim to facilitate entry into the cell therapy space for large healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, those members of the industry most reliably able to initiate and maintain advanced phase clinical trials. Ultimately, this will expedite the maturation of the field and bring cell therapy treatments to patients faster," says Ed Horwitz, president of ISCT, in a statement.
- check out ISCT's release