The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) regulates cellular therapy products, human gene therapy products, and certain devices related to cell and gene therapy. CBER uses both the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act as enabling statutes for oversight.
Cellular therapy products include cellular immunotherapies, cancer vaccines, and other types of both autologous and allogeneic cells for certain therapeutic indications, including hematopoetic stem cells and adult and embryonic stem cells. Human gene therapy seeks to modify or manipulate the expression of a gene or to alter the biological properties of living cells for therapeutic use. CBER has approved both cellular and gene therapy products – a list of these products may be found here.
Cellular and gene therapy-related research and development in the United States continue to grow at a fast rate, with a number of products advancing in clinical development. In addition to regulatory oversight of clinical studies, CBER provides proactive scientific and regulatory advice to medical researchers and manufacturers in the area of novel product development.
FDA is issuing this guidance to provide manufacturers of licensed and investigational cellular therapy and gene therapy (CGT) products with risk-based recommendations to minimize potential transmission of the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
This guidance is intended to supplement the recommendations to drug and biological product manufacturers provided in FDA’s “Good Manufacturing Practice Considerations for Responding to COVID-19 Infection in Employees in Drug and Biological Products Manufacturing; Guidance for Industry” issued in June 2020 (Ref. 1) (June 2020 GMP Guidance). The recommendations in this guidance specifically consider the source material (cells and/or tissues) recovered from donors and how the CGT product will be manufactured (e.g., cell expansion in culture, viral reduction steps, formulation).
Manufacturing Considerations for Licensed and Investigational Cellular and Gene Therapy Products During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Guidance for Industry
Source – U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Avance Biosciences™ offers a series of services that support our clients’ efforts in gene therapy and cell therapy including: edited gene testing, CAR T-cell and other cell therapy testing, DNA/RNA biodistribution testing. Contact our technical staff to discuss how we can support you in your project!
