Four months after announcing the Cell & Gene Therapy Access Model for Medicaid, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed increasing the New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) for cell and gene therapies for Medicare (a government health insurance program for seniors). This outcomes-based reimbursement proposal aligns Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement plans for cell and gene therapy (CGT) for sickle cell disease. Eventually, this approach may expand to cover additional conditions. Basically, the Medicare proposal calls for increasing the payment to 75% of the cost ..read more

A British-based cell therapy company is using smart operations to streamline its viral vector processing. According to Paul S. Carter, senior director, manufacturing science and technology (MSAT), at Quell Therapeutics, the company is using clever planning to work more efficiently, without incurring large costs. “The discussions we’ve been having within the small team I lead is how to generate as much value as possible, without growing too large or buying huge amounts of expensive equipment,” he explains. Carter shared his expertise at a roundtable during the Terrapinn conference on Advanced T ..read more

When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. However, it is not fully understood how our defense cells stay vigilant when there are no pathogens in sight. Now, researchers from CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have discovered these cells are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue to keep them prime and ready to respond to pathogens. Their study in mice suggests future medications could be devised to selectively enhance our immune system’s attention. The findings are published in Natu ..read more

When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. However, it is not fully understood how our defense cells stay vigilant when there are no pathogens in sight. Now, researchers from CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have discovered these cells are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue to keep them prime and ready to respond to pathogens. Their study in mice suggests future medications could be devised to selectively enhance our immune system’s attention. The findings are published in Natu ..read more

Unlike the rigid skeletons within our bodies, the skeletons within individual cells—cytoskeletons—are changeable, even fluid. And when these cytoskeletons reorganize themselves, they do more than support different cell shapes. They permit different functions. Little wonder, then, that scientists who build artificial cells hope to create synthetic cytoskeletons that act like natural cytoskeletons. Synthetic cytoskeletons capable of supporting dynamic changes in cell shape and function could enable the development of novel drug delivery systems, diagnostic tools, and regenerative medicine applic ..read more

Post-mitotic neurons in the brain that re-enter the cell cycle quickly succumb to senescence, and this cell cycle re-entry and accumulation of resulting senescent neurons is more common in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain than in the normal brain, according to the results of a study headed by Kim Hei-Man Chow, PhD, and colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The team applied a bioinformatics approach to analyze single nucleotide RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) datasets from human AD brain samples. They found that these senescent cells displayed more proinflammatory, metabolically deregulat ..read more

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell and T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell therapies are promising treatments for a range of cancers, offering hope to patients whose cancers have become refractory to conventional therapeutic options. Speakers at the recent CAR-TCR Summit Europe in London agreed that despite their efficacy, CAR/TCR-T cell therapy faces challenges that can result in high costs, and limited accessibility. “Investment in advanced therapies is dropping so drug developers are restricting their pipeline development to save costs,” noted Qian Liu, PhD, head of plasmid engineering & l ..read more

Sarcopenia, a prevalent condition among the elderly, is characterized by a progressive decline in muscle mass and function, which can significantly diminish quality of life and increase the risk of falls, injuries, and dependency. More research is needed to create effective strategies that enable the aging population to remain healthy and independent. Now researchers from IRB Barcelona report that a protein may be the key to combatting sarcopenia. The findings are published in Authophagy in an article titled, “TP53INP2-dependent activation of muscle autophagy ameliorates sarcopenia and promote ..read more

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