Autologous Stem Cell Seeded Tissue Engineered Trachea

CLINICAL PROBLEM AND UNMET NEEDThere are 11,827 patients with severe structural airway disease in Europe. Even with the current standard of care, when hospitalised this group of patients has a 22% risk of dying. Patients are currently subjected to repeated surgical interventions (stent insertion) which have a high failure rate. Other therapeutic strategies under development include synthetic tracheal scaffolds seeded with patients own stem cells. Preliminary data show that these scaffolds are poorly integrated and are susceptible to infection.TETRA PROJECTOur SME-led project will address the limitations of standard clinical care and competitor products under development and will:- Build on our successful compassionate use experience using autologous stem cell seeded scaffold-tracheal transplants in 48 patients- Follow on from our Phase I 4 patient INSPIRE clinical trial which will improve on the clinical prototype used in compassionate use cases- Conduct a 48 patient Phase II pivotal clinical trial to provide robust, quality data with validated GMP manufacturing processes to support an accelerated route to market for commercial exploitation in this orphan indication- Prepare a dossier for MAA submissionBENEFITSOur product, an ATMP, aims to eliminate the need for repeated surgical interventions of high risk and limited efficacy, reduce deaths and improve the quality of life for surviving patients. If treating 20% of the patients with severe structural airway disease, we estimate that in Europe our technology will improve the quality and length of patient lives and result in savings of €517 million per year.We plan to further develop our platform technology to generate other complex tissues/organs such as bowel and liver replacements for clinical applications which will impact the lives of tens of thousands of patient in the EU with bowel and liver diseases.