Find out how the partnership between the SingHealth Duke-NUS Cell Therapy Centre and the Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore enables the delivery of quality cell therapy products for the benefit of patients.
Find out how the partnership between the SingHealth Duke-NUS Cell Therapy Centre and the Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore enables the delivery of quality cell therapy products for the benefit of patients.
ABOUT CELL THERAPY
Cellular therapy involves the introduction of whole cells into a patient to carry out an immunotherapeutic or regenerative function to treat diseases and/or damaged organs. Cell therapy, as witnessed by the regulatory approval of several life-saving products, will be a rapidly evolving and developing field in the medical ecosystem for years to come.
FROM DISCOVERY TO MANUFACTURING:
THE ADVANCED CELL THERAPY AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE, SINGAPORE
The Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore (ACTRIS) was set up to address the growing demand for cell therapy in Singapore. Established in April 2020, ACTRIS is a business unit of the Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation, Singapore (CRIS), which oversees national translational and clinical research programmes under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health (MOH).
ACTRIS' vision is to be the national and regional centre of excellence for facilitating the discovery, process development and manufacturing of cellular-based therapeutics across the broad spectrum of immunotherapy and regenerative medicine encompassing investigational and approved cell therapies (CTs).
The team seeks to promote and foster the entire value chain of the CT ecosystem through enabling:
- Translational research and development
- Manufacturing
- Clinical application
- Commercialisation
Its planning, management and operational teams are led by Dr Tan Lip Kun, a Haematologist from the National University Health System. Supported by MOH, Dr Tan and the implementation office team bring together years of clinical, laboratory and administrative experience that is quintessential in building a national-level programme.
ACTRIS' new facility will be located in the new National Cancer Centre Singapore building at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) campus by 2022.
To find out more about ACTRIS, visit www.actris.sg.
HOW ACTRIS ENABLES THE ADVANCEMENT OF CELL THERAPY
International accreditation
Located on the SGH campus, the centralised ACTRIS facility will attain accreditation from national and international regulators to ensure quality and compliant CT product development and services.
Through the availability of Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) and Global Trader Programme (GTP) laboratories, ACTRIS will serve the public healthcare, academic and private sectors operating on a translational, academic and commercial business model.
Value-added services
To enable the growth of Singapore as an innovation-led biomedical hub particularly in the niche domain of CTs, ACTRIS will also provide value-added services such as workforce training, business strategy, regulatory facilitation and health economics pertaining to the delivery of CT to patients compounded with necessary economic value capture.
Manufacturing services
Through the formation and operationalisation of ACTRIS, it hopes to deliver manufacturing services to bring affordable cell, tissue and gene therapy (CTGT) products to patients in Singapore.
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ACTRIS AND THE SINGHEALTH DUKE-NUS CELL THERAPY CENTRE (SDCT)
A key mandate of SDCT is to run clinical trials and services for cellular therapeutics. The strategic partnership between SDCT and ACTRIS will ensure smooth clinical manufacturing services to provide quality-controlled cellular therapy products to patients.
As the field of CT continues to grow in Singapore, we can expect the healthcare industry to evolve along with it. In the near future, general practitioners and community hospitals will play a pivotal role in looking after the well-being of patients who were successfully treated with cellular therapy products, as they become more accessible.
