Cell and gene therapies from lab to patient

American researcher Sarah Callens has a long track record of taking innovations all the way to development and beyond, from lab to patient. She also has a global approach after working in several different countries and getting to know various cultures. Callens brings a lot to the table at CCRM Nordic, enabling even more leads to become successful therapies.

CCRM Nordic is a not for profit organisation supported by the Swedish government. The aim is to gather the best expertise available in cell and gene therapies and support the transition from lab to patient. CCRM is focusing specifically on research for advanced therapies like ATMP:s, covering gene and cell therapies.

No research is carried out by CCRM, its operations is solely dedicated to fuelling the research and success of others. Like a stepping stone to take good innovations and research further, and ideally much further than what would be possible flying solo.

“We offer services in everything from business development to process development in the lab environment, to full-scale manufacturing services and marketing. Everything needed to assist commercialisation and make therapies available to patients”, says Sarah Callens.

Leader in ATMP 2030

The Swedish government has underlined the ambition to make Sweden a leader in ATMP 2030. CCRM plays an important part in reaching that goal.

Sarah Callens has worked with process development in cell therapy programs for over 20 years. Many of these programs were in the Big Pharma environment. At CCRM, she has gathered a great understanding of the needs of smaller players.

“What makes CCRM different is that we have the opportunity to give additional support to start-ups and small research groups”, she says. “We get to see that we make a really big difference to the outcome of their efforts. We help them with everything they need in order to make it from the research stage to patient. What we do makes a difference, we help them advance in a way that would not be possible to do without our support”.

CCRM can even assist when it comes to funding and investment. Services include making development plans that attract financial interest and applications that generate successful funding.

Levelling up to meet client requirements

CCRM is shaping its own internal goals and preparing to take on more projects in the near future. For example, technical platforms are currently being implemented to support client operations.

“We are already engaging with local therapy developers, and ensuring that we are able to accommodate the technical work that their programs would require. We are currently making sure that we have access to the right equipment and that the platforms that we are developing can cater to immediate requirements of existing clients, as well as the requirements of potential clients in the future”, explains Callens.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but CCRM is up and running, ready to meet the needs of ATMP developers and at the same time taking one step further for Sweden to become a global leader in the field.