The question remains unanswered as to whether a peer-to-peer collaborative model will prosper where medtech companies that are in some instances one step ahead of big pharma in terms of drug development are happy to be a third- party provider to big pharma that have the budgets and networks to truly deliver the regenerative medicine revolution.

In a recent document published by the UK government in response to the Regenerative Medicine Inquiry by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, policymakers stressed the importance of commercialising new therapies to meet the changing needs of the health sector.

In the UK, the Regenerative Medicine Expert Group (RMEG) has been tasked with developing an NHS regenerative medicine strategy to ensure the NHS is fully prepared to deliver innovative treatment and that regulations support and not hinder its delivery.

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult is also continuing to work to bridge the gap between translational research and commercialisation.

However, for the UK to be well-positioned to offer safe and effective regenerative therapies, a strategy is needed that covers the whole value chain from academic research, commercial development and clinical application.

The effect of Brexit on the UKs regenerative medicine sector remains unclear, but the UK has the opportunity to develop an independent framework outside the EU regulatory system to accelerate the development of new therapies and its economic potential while upholding the highest patient safety standards.

In any case, EU and UK regulators need to prioritise the standardisation of regulations governing manufacturing, quality control and the supply chain to keep up with advancements made by the FDA in the US.

Establishing an efficient supply chain for regenerative medicine

The promise of regenerative medicine requires an innovative look at the complete product life cycle, including the development of an efficient distribution network.

Once these novel drugs become mainstream, the entire healthcare ecosystem will have to adapt. Regulatory approval for any drug relies on it safely and successfully fulfilling its medical intent.

As such, information about supply chain management needs to be submitted to the regulator after the completion of phase 3 clinical trials, including packaging, labelling, storage and distribution.

The clinical supply chains required to deliver these therapies are arguably the most complex the industry has seen so far. Regenerative medicine is either personalised or matched to the donor-recipient. They are also highly sensitive to exogenous factors like time and temperature.

Advanced IT solutions and monitoring systems are being developed and employed to ensure end-to-end traceability. These are giving clinicians access to view the progress of therapies and their distribution in real-time and allow users to automatically schedule or amend material collections in line with manufacturing capacity, helping to keep the supply chain as agile as possible.

The live tissues and cells which form the basis of regenerative medicine products are highly sensitive and some have a shelf life of no more than a few hours.

Therefore, materials need to be transported from the site of harvest to manufacturing facilities, and from manufacturing facilities to medical institutions under strictly controlled conditions, within certain times and temperatures, according to cell and tissue requirements.

Temperature-controlled logistics solutions are vital to ensure a safe, effective and financially viable supply chain network for these high-value shipments. Cryopreservation is one technique increasingly being used to deliver medicines at optimum temperature using vapour phase nitrogen; however, many clinical settings remain ill-equipped to handle such equipment.

On-site production is an alternative manufacturing arrangement, particularly for autologous products which are derived from a patients own cells.

However, this throws up a number of compliance and infrastructure challenges, as the hospital would need to comply with a host of regulations including installing a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-licensed clean room.

As a first-generation technology, stakeholders will have a greater tolerance for higher pricing... but only for a limited time period. By streamlining the currently very expensive manufacturing process and improving supply chain management, yields will automatically get larger and costs will slowly come down.

While there are many challenges in the road ahead, 2019 certainly appears to be the start of regenerative medicines move to the big time.

See more here:
Delivering the promise of regenerative medicine - PMLiVE