On April 27, 2021 SQZ Biotechnologies (NYSE: SQZ), a cell therapy company developing novel treatments for multiple therapeutic areas,reported that it will present new data on the company’s scaled cGMP cell therapy manufacturing program at the 2021 American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy Virtual Annual Meeting (ASGCT) (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) from May 11-14 (Press release, SQZ Biotech, APR 27, 2021, View Source [SID1234578585]). The company will also present findings on the performance advantages of cells engineered through its proprietary Cell Squeeze Technology.
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"There is tremendous therapeutic need for faster and more efficient delivery of impactful cell therapies to patients around the world," said Armon Sharei, PhD, Chief Executive Officer at SQZ Biotechnologies. "Through our manufacturing and therapeutic development programs, we strive to transform the current cell therapy paradigm and are excited to share our progress at ASGCT (Free ASGCT Whitepaper)."
Rapid, Scaled cGMP and Aseptic Manufacturing Program Data
Company scientists will present new data on its proprietary Cell Squeeze manufacturing technology demonstrating its ability to rapidly and reproducibly deliver cell therapy doses at scale. The presentation will show that the company’s cGMP and aseptic manufacturing program can process 10 billion cells per minute with greater than 90 percent cell viability. The company is delivering its first investigational drug (SQZ-PBMC-HPV) utilizing this core technology for its Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with Human Papillomavirus positive (HPV+) tumors.
"The company’s cell therapy manufacturing program has proven in our Phase 1 trial its ability to deliver reproducible investigational drug batches rapidly and at scale," said Howard Bernstein, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at SQZ Biotechnologies. "Our advances in cell therapy manufacturing will potentially enable multiple therapeutics across oncology, infectious disease, and immune disorders to be developed and delivered to a broad patient population."
Cell Performance Advantages
Additionally, in a poster presentation, company scientists assessed the use of Cell Squeeze technology to deliver pre-complexed CRISPR/Cas9 RNPs to achieve multiplex-edited primary human T cells. When comparing the functional effects of the Cell Squeeze technology to the commonly used electroporation approach, the authors found significant differences in transcriptional changes between the two treatments. Cells treated with electroporation corresponded with aberrant cytokine production, potentially resulting in premature T cell exhaustion. SQZ treated T cells, however, did not have disrupted transcriptional profiles or cytokine production and readily expanded post treatment with robustness similar to untreated cells.
"This work highlights the advantages of using the Cell Squeeze technology for cell engineering," said Jonathan Gilbert, PhD, Vice President of Exploratory Research at SQZ Biotechnologies. "We demonstrate preclinically a clear distinction in cell performance with the ability to achieve multiple, distinct gene edits with more viable and functional cells."