Extracellular vesicles (EVs) or exosomes are subcellular entities released by cells. It is becoming widely known that EVs are as effective as cell therapies for tissue regeneration for diseases such as stroke, heart failure, arthritis while being safer and easier for supply chains. Therefore, they could be the key to the future health of an ageing population and are increasingly explored by many stakeholders.
However, the ability to manufacture quantities of EVs compatible with human use is a major challenge for the diffusion of this innovation. Indeed, the hindrances to overcome for rendering EV-based therapies clinically feasible are a cost-effective large-scale standardized EV production platform complying with regulatory issues and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Existing production methods have low yields, are not all scalable and are very time consuming, rarely GMP compliant, making clinical translation of EV-based therapeutics difficult.
EVerZom addressed this challenge with the ambition of developing the first European innovative EV-platform covering the entire technological value chain from the cell source to the administration to patients. This platform is organized around four technological bricks: i. mother cell modification, ii. EV generation, iii. EV engineering and iv. EV formulation. The ACROBAT project is focused on EV generation brick with the objective to develop a GMP-compliant EV-bioproduction for further clinical development. This brick is on a patented technology and over 10 years of academic research in nano and biotechnologies, that relies on a unique bioinspired physically triggered production technology that enables to produce 10 times more EVs in 1/10th of the time compared to current production methods. It is an innovative, cost effective, scalable standardized EV production process.
