Project description
Decreasing the high cost of life-saving CAR-T immunotherapy
High rates of remission have been achieved using CAR-T cell-based immunotherapy for many patients with aggressive and previously untreatable cancers. It uses the patient's own genetically engineered immune cells to attack and eliminate cancer cells in the organism. Currently, this individualised therapy costs up to half a million dollars per patient. Grey Matter Technologies Ltd is developing a new approach to improve the most laborious and expensive stage of engineered cell preparation using patented mesh structure that mimics the natural cell environment. Initial testing demonstrated that the new technology produces eight times higher cell yields versus the currently used Dynabeads based procedure. Researchers will conduct initial product trials and create a business plan for further developing this technology.
Objective
Lifesaving cell-based CAR-T therapies have achieved remission rates of up to 83% for patients with the most aggressive and untreatable cancers. These therapies harness a patient’s own genetically engineered immune cells to target cancer cells. However, manufacturers are struggling to produce these individualised treatments at scale resulting in prohibitive prices as high as $475,000 per treatment. Unless solutions that address these limitations are provided, publically-funded EU healthcare systems & citizens will be priced out of these life-changing therapies.
The challenges they face include poor cell growth performance due to patient sample variability, limitations associated with equipment adopted from the research lab that require costly skilled labour, costly consumables and expensive cleanroom infrastructure.
Compared to the gold standard, Dynabeads, initial testing has shown that the ImmunoGrow technology produces an 8x higher cell yield which helps to save the sickest patients who have limited cells and significantly reduce the cost to manufacture these therapies by simplifying the process, reducing the requirement for skilled operator input and making this step both ‘closed’ and automated. ImmunoGrow achieves this through its patent-protected mesh structure that mimics the natural growth conditions cells encounter in the body.
Grey Matter Technologies (‘GMT’) Ltd. is seeking support to help fund trials with two identified customers as well to help it to conduct an independent set of tests on the product’s performance. Both these trials, as well as an associated business plan or feasibility study, will be core to the raising of a seed round of €500,000 in 2019 to further develop the technology with the release of a full-scale product anticipated for Q3 2021. GMT expects to capture 15% of the $600mn addressable T-Cell Activation market in 2030. In doing so, it will make these life changing treatments cheaper, safer and more widely available.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
Y21 Y5V0 WEXFORD
Ireland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.