Ascend touts AAV enhancers that triple vector yields without affecting quality

Maryland-based Ascend Advanced Therapies announced new data showing that its two proprietary manufacturing enhancers can significantly increase adeno-associated virus (AAV) yields without compromising quality.

Developed through collaborative research, the enhancers were evaluated across multiple scales in HEK293 cells using Ascend’s EpyQ two-plasmid AAV production system and a commercially available three-plasmid system. The company reported no observed effects on key quality metrics, such as vg/cap ratio or mispackaged DNA, and confirmed enhancer activity using customer plasmids.

Enhancer 1 produced up to a threefold increase in AAV vector yield using EpyQ in Ambr15 and up to 1.7-fold more for the three-plasmid system at Ambr15 and 2L bioreactor scale. Enhancer 2 produced up to 2.4-fold higher yields using EpyQ at Ambr15 scale and up to 2.1-fold higher yields at Ambr250 and 5L scales, with results replicated externally by a potential licensee, the company said.

“Improving AAV productivity without compromising product quality is one of the most persistent challenges in gene therapy manufacturing,” Markus Hörer, Ascend’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement. “This enhancer represents a meaningful step forward — not just for our internal platform, but for our partners who depend on scalable and reliable AAV manufacturing.”

CEO Alessandra Rispoli said integrating the enhancer into Ascend’s CMC offering will allow partners to “achieve higher yield, reduced cost per dose, and faster scalability.”

According to the announcement, the enhancers can now be used across its process development and clinical manufacturing workflows, with plans to license the technology to the broader industry in the coming months. 

_{This piece was created with the assistance of generative AI tools and was edited by our content team for clarity and accuracy.}