Containment of Cell and Gene Therapies Upcoming Poster Presentations

West's Applied Research Team will be presenting two scientific posters at the upcoming International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy 2021 New Orleans Annual Meeting taking place online May 26 – 28, 2021.

Therapeutic gene delivery viral vectors and living cell-based drugs often require storage at ultra-cold and cryogenic temperatures, respectively, to maintain their potency as low temperature storage effectively slows natural degradation processes. In two proof-of-concept studies, we tested our COP-based container systems to do just that – safely store and efficiently recover an AAV2 viral vector and an expanded T cell culture in ultra-cold and cryogenic temperatures, respectively. We then monitored recovery of product from the containers and functional attributes like transduction and outgrowth potential.

Poster #1109 entitled “EVALUATION OF A NOVEL CYCLIC OLEFIN POLYMER CONTAINER SYSTEM FOR STORING ADENO-ASSOCIATED VIRUS” details various vialing configurations that each enable consistent recovery of AAV2 viral particles, which retain their functional ability to transduce HEK293 cells through higher vector recovery compared with glass containers.

Poster #1243 entitled “COMPARISON OF RIGID POLYMER VIALS AND FLEXIBLE BAGS FOR THE CRYOPRESERVATION OF T CELLS” demonstrates that COP-based rigid container systems provide consistent recovery of viable and functional T Cells without altering the outgrowth cell population – a requisite of a reliable cell therapy manufacturing and administration process.

These studies provide an exciting proof-of-concept for rigid vial systems enabling better drug product recovery while retaining functional characteristics that viral vectors and cell therapies require.Visit our posters #1109 and #1243 at the ISCT 2021 New Orleans Annual Meeting.

The research posters and technical reports detailing the collaborative work will be available for download from our Knowledge Center after the event.