0000000000337210
AUTHOR
John Joseph Borg
Regulatory evaluation of Glybera in Europe — two committees, one mission
Representing the first gene therapy to be approved in the Western world, alipogene tiparvovec (Glybera; Uniqure) has recently been said to have had a “substantial impact from a regulatory perspective” (Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 11, 664; 2012) 1 . The therapy was granted marketing authorization in the European Union for the treatment of lipoprotein lipase deficiency, which results in a clinically heterogeneous condition with a risk of potentially life-threatening pancreatitis 2 , at the end of 2012. The decision followed a positive opinion by the European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) 3
Manufacturing, characterization and control of cell-based medicinal products: challenging paradigms toward commercial use
During the past decade, a large number of cell-based medicinal products have been tested in clinical trials for the treatment of various diseases and tissue defects. However, licensed products and those approaching marketing authorization are still few. One major area of challenge is the manufacturing and quality development of these complex products, for which significant manipulation of cells might be required. While the paradigms of quality, safety and efficacy must apply also to these innovative products, their demonstration may be demanding. Demonstration of comparability between production processes and batches may be difficult for cell-based medicinal products. Thus, the development …