105075Extension of shelf-life for cell therapies at room temperatureClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UK"Therapies using live cells offer the possibility of treatments for diseases and conditions that cannot be approached by conventional drugs. Cells are being investigated for their abilities to reverse blindness, re-grow bone and nerves, restore the immune system and treat cancers for which there are no effective drugs. Living cells, however, are fragile and short-lived outside their natural environment. A common approach to address these issues is to freeze the cells for storage but this causes problems when the cells are thawed again for injection into the patient. Many cell therapies simply cannot be frozen and for these products complicated and expensive logistics are required to ensure their delivery to the hospital and the patient before their shelf life expires. A technology has been developed that enables the storage and transport of unfrozen human cells, thereby preserving and extending their functional viability. The technology has been shown to be effective with a wide variety of cell types. This technology has the potential to make cell therapies widely available to many more patients who need treatment. The proposed project will explore options for stabilising the active cells contained within a specific cell therapy product, preventing their deterioration and therefore extending the shelf-life. The product is being trialled in a clinical stage program and is therefore an excellent exemplar to demonstrate the potential of the technology. Extending the shelf-life is necessary to ensure that hospitals have flexibility to schedule operating theatres to administer the product and therefore enable as many patients as possible to be treated with novel, potentially curative therapies. Managing global logistics by this approach can also allow for more efficient manufacturing (fewer manufacturing plants needed, for example), reducing the costs of production and making the therapies more affordable and widely available."