Northwest Biotherapeutics (NWBio) and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) are collaborating to support the production of DCVax-L, a personalised immunotherapy being developed to treat solid tumour cancers. The collaboration will support the production of personalised cancer immunotherapy, with plans to expand services across England.
Initially, the collaboration will operate in Leeds and Oxford, with plans to expand to additional NHSBT locations across England, making the specialist services needed for DCVax-L production more accessible.
DCVax-L can harness a patient’s own immune system to recognise and attack cancer. Each treatment is manufactured individually, using immune cells collected from the patient and material from their tumour.
Under the collaboration, NHSBT will provide specialist services to collect and process patients’ immune cells for manufacturing DCVax-L. This includes leukapheresis, a procedure to collect the white blood cells needed to produce the personalised treatment, alongside specialist cell processing and handling services provided by NHSBT’s Cellular and Molecular Therapies teams.
Working alongside NWBio and Advent Bioservices, NHSBT will help strengthen the UK infrastructure supporting DCVax-L production.
Additionally, the organisations are exploring opportunities to expand the collaboration across NHSBT’s existing network of specialist facilities, potentially reducing the distances patients and their families need to travel.
Ms Linda Powers, CEO of Northwest Biotherapeutics, said, “NHSBT’s impressive expertise and facilities for advanced therapies are at the forefront of the field. We are very excited about collaborating with them on our DCVax-L personalised immune therapies for cancer. We believe NHSBT’s capabilities can significantly enhance the scale-up and accessibility of DCVax-L.”
Dr James Griffin, medical director, NHSBT, said, “The collaboration forms part of ongoing work between NHSBT, NWBio and Advent Bioservices to strengthen the infrastructure supporting the production of DCVax-L in the UK. We aim to help make cutting-edge advanced therapies more accessible. Alongside the planned expansion of the existing therapeutic apheresis and cell processing model, the organisations are also exploring opportunities for broader collaboration involving NHSBT’s specialist laboratory and advanced therapies capabilities.”
