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Northwest Biotherapeutic, a biotechnology company developing DCVax® personalized immune therapies for solid tumor cancers, announced commencement of production of its first dendritic cell cancer vaccine for a compassionate use patient at its recently licensed production facility in Sawston, UK.
This milestone follows approval by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of a license for manufacture of GMP (clinical grade) cell therapy products at its Sawston, UK facility for compassionate use cases, and approval by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) of a license for collection and processing of human cells and tissues for medical purposes. Under this regulatory program in the UK, the vaccine is identified as ADCV (“Autologous Dendritic Cell Vaccine”).
As previously reported, the MHRA license was received in December of 2021, following nearly two years of preparations. This included hiring and training of technical staff, preparation of approximately 1,000 regulatory documents (including Standard Operating Procedure documents and others), validation of facilities, equipment and protocols, and practice manufacturing cycles. This was followed by a review and detailed inspection by the MHRA.
Since the issuance of the MHRA license, Advent Bioservices, NW Bio’s contract manufacturer in the UK, has been conducting the required post-approval re-validations and testing so that the facility is now ready for the manufacture of cell therapy products for clinical use. Accordingly, the first vaccine production for compassionate use treatment for a glioblastoma patient has now begun in the Sawston facility.
The Company anticipates that Phase 1A of the Sawston facility will have the capacity to produce cancer vaccines for 450-500 patients per year. The Company plans to continue developing the Sawston facility in phases, both to calibrate the capital expenditures with the capacity needed and to leave room for implementation of new technologies such as the Flaskworks system.
About Northwest Biotherapeutics
Northwest Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing personalized immunotherapy products designed to treat cancers more effectively than current treatments, without toxicities of the kind associated with chemotherapies, and on a cost-effective basis, in both North America and Europe. The Company has a broad platform technology for DCVax® dendritic cell-based vaccines. The Company’s lead program is a 331-patient Phase III trial of DCVax®-L for newly diagnosed Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). GBM is the most aggressive and lethal form of brain cancer, and is an “orphan disease.” This Phase III trial reached data lock and the Company is actively continuing to move toward announcement of top line data. The Company has also developed DCVax®-Direct for inoperable solid tumor cancers. It has completed a 40-patient Phase I trial and, as resources permit, plans to pursue Phase II trials. The Company previously conducted a Phase I/II trial with DCVax-L for advanced ovarian cancer together with the University of Pennsylvania.
