Autologous cell therapies have shown the promise of single-dose, curative treatments for patients with advanced cancers. But even with major scientific and regulatory progress, the field now faces its toughest challenge yet: achieving sustainable, scalable manufacturing for highly personalized therapies.
In a recent two-part series of Off Script: A Pharma Manufacturing Podcast, we spoke with Jason Bock, co-founder and CEO of CTMC, a purpose-driven cell therapy accelerator to discuss overcoming the manufacturing, operational, and scalability hurdles standing between today’s autologous therapies and their widespread clinical adoption.
In Part 1 of our conversation, we discuss why scale remains the central barrier for autologous therapies, the significance of CTMC’s partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center, and how fit-for-purpose manufacturing models can shorten vein-to-vein time and bring transformative treatments to patients faster.
In Part II of our conversation with Bock, we dive deeper into the operational and manufacturing challenges shaping the future of curative cell therapies.
Jason discusses how CTMC—through its partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center—is eliminating inefficiencies across development timelines to significantly accelerate clinical progress without increasing risk. He also shares a forward-looking perspective on how cell therapies could one day be ordered and delivered like traditional pharmaceuticals, and what scientific, regulatory, and manufacturing innovations will be required to make that vision a reality.
About the Author
Andy Lundin
Senior Editor
Andy Lundin has more than 10 years of experience in business-to-business publishing producing digital content for audiences in the medical and automotive industries, among others. He currently works as Senior Editor for Pharma Manufacturing and is responsible for feature writing and production of the podcast.
His prior publications include MEDQOR, a real-time healthcare business intelligence platform, and Bobit Business Media. Andy graduated from California State University-Fullerton in 2014 with a B.A. in journalism. He lives in Long Beach, California.