New storage technique to boost cell therapy

M Somasekar Updated - May 30, 2018 at 10:40 PM.

Atelerix develops technology to store and move cells

M Somasekhar Cold storage, refrigeration for transportation of critical human cells could be a passe soon. A UK-based company, Atelerix claims to have a technique that helps store and move cells at room temperature by packing them neatly into an alginate gel. Alginate is a naturally occuring polymer obtained from brown seaweed. It has increasing applications in food, chemical and biomedical areas.

Transformative technology

The method helps store and transport viable cells, including stem cells giving hope for increasing the use of cell therapies for a wide range of uses in human healthcare. At present cryoshipping (using sub zero or very low temperatures) is necessary to preserve and move the cells to different locations. Atelerix, a start-up and a spin off from Newcastle University has tied up with the LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), Hyderabad as part of technology transfer and commercialisation of what it describes as a transformative technology. LVPEI finds possibility of utilising the technique for its stem cell-based therapy for corneal problems.

There are approximately 130,000 people suffering from corneal blindness in India with the addition of some 30,000 new cases every year. In up to 30 per cent of the cases both eyes are damaged simultaneously. Also, 40 per cent of the injuries occur in children. The standard care offered at present is to perform a corneal transplant.

Although the surgery is quick and straightforward, it is high maintenance treatment with immunosuppressant eyedrops being required daily for life. Invariably, the patient compliance is observed to become poor. LVPEI is developing a stem cell treatment for reversal of the scarring, to treat corneal problems and have been seeing very encouraging results from their clinical trials.

Shelf life

At present, however, they can only treat patients in Hyderabad where the clinic is physically situated close to the eye bank from which, they isolate the cells and culture them in their cGMP facility. The shelf life of those isolated cells is 6-8 hours making it impossible to transport the cells to their other regional centres across India or to their multiple smaller centres that will otherwise carry out the procedure, the Institute says.

In this background, the Atelerix technique can help extend the shelf life of the cells upto 5 days, which can considerably improve the scope of the treatment. The tie up also assumes importance. Che Connon, Professor of Tissue Engineering at Newcastle University, UK and the Scientific founder of Atelerix saidthe collaboration could lead to helping millions of people regain their sight across the world. It is not certainly limited to cell therapy of the eye. He sees it being employed across many other modern treatments.

The two partners have agreed to outline commercial terms for the treatment, once it is approved by the regulatory authorities, From the purely commercial perspective, this collaborative venture could generate up to £2-3M per year for the UK-based company, depending on the successful uptake of the treatment across Asia.

Published on May 30, 2018 16:41