Cell Therapy For Corneal Endothelial Dystrophies With Aurion Biotech's Greg Kunst

Rare Disease Day is February 29, 2024, and in honor of this important day, Cell & Gene: The Podcast Host Erin Harris sits down with Jackson Laboratory’s (JAX) Rare Disease Translational Center (RDTC)'s VP, Cat Lutz. They discuss RDTC's mission, the specific qualifications that make up a rare disease, how the study of rare diseases can potentially advance progress in common diseases, and much more. 

On this episode of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, Christopher McDonald, Global Head of Technical Operations at Kite, a Gilead company, talks to Host Erin Harris about Kite's recent FDA approval of manufacturing process change resulting in reduced median turnaround time for Yescarta. They talk through the most significant steps Kite took to reach this approval, lessons learned from having worked with the FDA, scaling up technologies for cell therapy manufacturing, and more. 

The Dedham Group's Jennifer Klarer, M.Sc.Eng., Partner and Head of Cell & Gene Therapy, joins Erin Harris on this episode of Cell & Gene: The Podcast for a deep dive into pricing and value for CGTs. Klarer shares a detailed breakdown of the most misunderstood aspects of cell and gene therapy pricing, value, and affordability. She details how manufacturers can get ahead of addressing time to treatment issues typically experienced at launch. They cover obtaining adequate investment dollars, and much more. 

Paul Lammers, M.D., M.Sc., CEO of Triumvira Immunologics joins Cell & Gene: The Podcast to talk to Host Erin Harris about TAC, the company's proprietary T cell Antigen Coupler, which has both autologous and allogeneic approaches. They also discuss targeting relapsed or refractory HER2-positive solid tumors and CLDN18.2-positive solid tumors. And they cover a realistic outlook on the evolution of cancer treatment.

Kristin Yarema, Ph.D., CEO, Poseida Therapeutics sits down with Cell & Gene: The Podcast Host Erin Harris to discuss four of the biggest challenges the CGT sector faces when it comes to the development of off-the-shelf therapies. Kristin shares how 2024 might see some real progress in allogeneic therapies. 

For this third and final episode recorded at ARM's 2023 Meeting on the Mesa, Cell & Gene: The Podcast Host, Erin Harris, sat down with Greg Kunst, president, CEO, and Board member at Aurion Biotech. Listen in as they discuss the cell therapy used to treat corneal endothelial disease and how Greg navigated the event as a first-timer attending Meeting on the Mesa.

Vittoria Biotherapeutics’ CEO, Nick Siciliano, joins Erin Harris on this episode of Cell & Gene: The Podcast to discuss the company's mission to expand the applications for CAR-based therapeutics by employing novel cell engineering and gene editing technologies.

Richard Wilson, Senior Vice President, Primary Focus Lead, Genetic Regulation at Astellas sat down with Cell & Gene: The Podcast's Erin Harris at ARM's 2023 Meeting on the Mesa to discuss the gene therapy deal making landscape as well as Astellas' recent deals and collaborations. They also discussed Astellas' strategic approach since having acquired Audentes back in 2020.

Ken Mills, CEO, President, and Director at REGENXBIO joins Erin Harris for this episode of Cell & Gene: The Podcast to discuss the company's progress with its Phase I/II Affinity Duchenne trial of RGX-202 for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. They discuss the future of AAV gene therapy as well as achieving scalability with consistent yield and product purity in gene therapy manufacturing.

Alliance for Regenerative Medicine's COO, Rita Johnson-Greene, joined Cell & Gene: The Podcast host, Erin Harris, in person at the 2023 Meeting on the Mesa to discuss this year's event. Johnson-Greene also shared what's ahead for 2024 as the event heads to a new location. They discussed major topics and trends at the event as well as ARM's GROW internship program.