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news.US-based Voyager Therapeutics has entered into a strategic collaboration with MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) for viral vector manufacturing.
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Under the deal, the two parties will establish scalable processes for manufacturing recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vector products using current good manufacturing practices (cGMP).
The deal will combine Voyager’s rAAV production technology platform with the manufacturing expertise and infrastructure of MassBiologics.
Voyager Therapeutics head of Operations James McLaughlin said: "MassBiologics’ clear commitment to viral vector manufacturing and their new state-of-the-art facility make it a natural partner for Voyager as we scale up our baculovirus/ Sf9 – based rAAV vector manufacturing platform for clinical use.
"The new collaboration builds upon an existing long-term strategic partnership between UMMS’s Gene Therapy Center and Voyager around rAAV research and development."
Scientists from both the parties will jointly work to establish Voyager’s proprietary third generation baculovirus/Sf9 process for the production of rAAV vectors.
The process, invented by Voyager vice-president of Production Robert Kotin, has been shown to produce high quality rAAV vector at commercial scale with high efficiency.
Activities carried out under the collaboration will take place in the new MassBiologics SouthCoast Vector Manufacturing Center located in Fall River, Massachusetts, US.