The cell and gene therapy field has a manufacturing problem.
In recent years, research involving the complex medicines has accelerated. Multiple gene therapies are now approved in the U.S. to treat inherited diseases, while six cell-based treatments for blood cancers are on the market there. Dozens of startups and biotechnology companies aim to follow in their footsteps.
But cell and gene therapies rely on an important tool that’s in short supply. Known as “viral vectors,” these engineered viruses are crucial to the development and production of genetic medicines, acting as vehicles to deliver genetic material efficiently into cells in a laboratory or inside patients’ bodies.
