Multisystem Cell Therapy for Improvement of Urinary Continence

Project Information

MUSIC

Grant agreement ID: 731377

DOI

10.3030/731377

Project closed

EC signature date 29 November 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 31 March 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 6 623 628,75

EU contribution

€ 2 349 521,25

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - MUSIC (Multisystem Cell Therapy for Improvement of Urinary Continence)

Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2022-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI), which is defined as the unintentional loss of urine, affects over 200 million people worldwide. This condition has a prevalence of 20-50% in women, thereby creating an immense socio-economic burden. The currently available treatment strategies entail various complications and offer only short-term relief to the patients. Regenerative medicine (RM) and tissue engineering (TE) using the patient’s own cells for transplantation (autologous transplantation) offers a feasible alternative for functional restoration of a damaged urinary sphincter muscle and represents an ideal treatment option, that could reverse the underlying pathological conditions. To this aim, we initiated the international project entitled “Multisystem cell therapy for improvement of urinary continence” – MU.S.I.C.
The main aim of the MUSIC consortium is to translate basic knowledge on cellular therapies and RM into the clinic by undertaking a "first-in-women" multisystem study using autologous muscle precursor cells (MPCs) in a combination with neuromuscular electromagnetic stimulation (NMES) in 10 female patients. Throughout the project’s lifetime, we specifically addressed safety, feasibility and efficacy of the proposed novel treatment, as well as reproducibility of the therapeutic effect. Further objectives were the optimization of the advanced-therapy medicinal product (ATMP) towards a cell expansion procedure that is free of animal-derived components (xeno-free) and that is facilitated by using process automation. Furthermore, the introduction of a novel cell-delivery techniques allowed for a more efficient and precise implantation of the final product.
The MUSIC consortium features a unique infrastructure, combining expertise in the fields of RM, urology, cellular biology and biomaterials throughout Europe (CH, NL, UK, A, D). We have an exclusive opportunity to determine the validity of this MPC cellular treatment in combination with NMES and to further develop its practicability and clinical efficacy. Our ultimate goal is to significantly improve the patients’ quality of life and to exploit future commercial opportunities by spreading the know-how to various smaller RM centers and companies within Europe and beyond, thus, making personalized medicine using autologous cells a realistic SUI treatment option.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From the beginning of the project, we pursued the main milestones to achieve the successful translation of the know-how into the clinical setting. We accomplished various pre-clinical tests and re-submitted all required documents to the authorities to assure the highest quality and safety of the cellular product. To pave way for the clinical applications, the surgical team of the MUSIC project performed high-precision test-for cell delivery in animal and human cadaver tissues, using novel implantation tools and techniques. We successfully completed the good manufacturing practice (GMP) validation and verification procedures and could enroll our first patient in January 2020. We completed successfully Phase1 with 9 patients and are preparing for the upcoming Phase2 clinical trial.
Due to a fruitful collaboration and successful transfer of know-how within the consortium, we managed to kick-start the development of further objectives of the MUSIC project. The advances in the set-up of a xeno-free cell culturing procedure are very promising. Moreover, the transfer of our current culturing system into an automated setting was successful, allowing a highly efficient cell expansion. Furthermore, with combined efforts, we developed two cell-delivery techniques/tools in parallel, the prototypes of which are already undergoing pre-clinical testing, in order to optimise the settings for precise and efficient implantation of the final product prior to introduction into a clinical setting.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The next development steps of our project would launch the specific automation settings for the xeno-free manufacturing, scaled-up cell production and minimally-to-non-invasive implantation possibilities, allowing for a wide-spread application of the therapy in numerous patients within Europe and beyond in the next phases of the study. Succeeding in this will offer a time- and cost- efficient solution for tangible functional muscle regeneration, thereby significantly increasing the quality of life of SUI patients. With a constantly aging population, the market potential for cellular therapies is growing daily. We therefore believe that the exploitation possibilities of the MU.S.I.C. outcomes will be of great importance and already have great potential to be life-changing.
The new procedure to treat SUI will result in a long- lasting relief for patients with minimal risk of complications. An important goal for the consortium was to develop a procedure that is safe, affordable and minimally invasive for the patients. To optimize the safety of the new cell-based product, we aimed to have a production process that is free of animal-derived components. In addition, to ensure that the new procedure remains affordable, we also worked towards more efficient ways to grow the cells. Automation reduces production cost and thereby the overall costs for the therapy, making it reasonably priced for the general patient population. Finally, to minimize patient discomfort, we optimized the application method to make it minimally invasive. As a result, the MUSIC project will provide a superior treatment for thousands of women (and later on of men) with SUI in near future, enabling a closure of the existing treatment gap and this unmet need. Moreover, we founded a bio-tech start-up company MUVON Therapeutics AG, aiming to pursue the further developments of the MUS.I.C. results towards marketable products in Europe and beyond.

MUSIC: towards commercialization