Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Opens Manufacturing Unit for Disease Therapies

CHOP and CEO Council for Growth Host Grand Opening, Signaling Philadelphia’s Emergence as Nation’s Biomedical Hub    

For over a century after the Civil War, Philadelphia laid claim to being the “Workshop of the World,” producing trains, tools, textiles and a multitude of other manufactured goods. An event today at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) highlights the city’s present-day role in manufacturing 21st century products: tools for precision medicine.

CHOP partnered with the CEO Council for Growth of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia to host the grand opening of the hospital’s new Clinical Manufacturing Facility, which will produce clinical-grade biotechnology tools, known as vectors, to deliver cell and gene therapy for difficult-to-treat diseases. Today’s opening is part of a broader regional effort to showcase Philadelphia’s position as a hub of scientific and medical innovation, attract world-class talent, generate jobs and drive the regional economy.

“Philadelphia is a city of breakthroughs,” said Madeline Bell, President and CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, during the event. She added, “In this facility, we make the tools—the vectors—that scientists use to deliver cell and gene therapies, bringing dramatic precision medicine treatments to patients.”

An earlier version of the hospital’s manufacturing facility developed vectors crucial to last year’s medical milestones—the first-ever gene therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Collaborating with Penn Medicine scientists, CHOP experts produced the first vectors for CAR T-cell therapy, used against leukemias, and Luxturna, used to treat a form of inherited blindness.

“The Greater Philadelphia region is already a global leader in the field of precision medicine,” said Rob Wonderling, President of the CEO Council for Growth and President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. He noted, “With the opening of this facility we demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the future of this very exciting field of medicine. This investment, in particular, will enhance the capacity to bring more cell and gene therapies to patients, a goal we’re extremely pleased to support.”

To share a parent’s perspective on what these innovations could mean for children and families, Devaki Jean spoke briefly. She is the mother of a child with sickle cell anemia, one of the diseases being targeted with new therapies under development at Children’s Hospital.

Today’s event also featured a panel of research leaders deeply involved in the Clinical Manufacturing Facility. Moderating the discussion was Bryan Wolf, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at CHOP. Joining him on the panel were Beverly Davidson, PhD, CHOP’s Chief Scientific Strategy Officer and Director of the Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, which manages the facility, and Stefano Rivella, PhD, a CHOP hematology researcher with expertise in sickle cell disease.

Two research leaders from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvaniaalso joined the panel: Carl June, MD, Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, who led the team that, along with CHOP and Novartis, pioneered CAR T-cell immunotherapy; and Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, F.M. Kirby Professor of Ophthalmology, an expert in retinal disorders who was one of the team leaders who pioneered Luxturna, the gene therapy for blindness now manufactured by Spark Therapeutics.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/children-s-hospital-of-philadelphia-opens-manufacturing-facility-making-tools-for-therapies-that-cure-disease/