German firm Miltenyi Biotec is launching operations in India with its first office and investing to set up Miltenyi Innovation and Technology Center as Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Centre of Excellence (CoE) at Hyderabad.

This COE will be one of its first of its kind in India where scientists, researchers, industry experts and clinicians can get classroom to hands-on trainings on cell and gene therapy approaches right from proof of concept to pre-clinical / clinical development and commercialisation. This CoE also will provide Indian researchers, scientists and clinicians easier access to expertise, research, and manufacturing solutions.

Each year, more than 10,000 patients are treated with cell products using Miltenyi Biotec’s technologies. More than  950 investigational new drug (IND) applications as well as investigational device exemptions (IDE) with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are using Miltenyi Biotec’s technologies and platforms.  In doing so, the company is well poised to enable local development and manufacturing in India to drive affordable and accessible CGT therapies by academia and industry for Indian as well as global patients.

Dr Boris Stoffel, Miltenyi Biotec’s Managing Director, highlighted that the company intends to seek opportunities to catalyse development of CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cell clinical development and manufacturing, with the prospect of bringing centralised and point-of-care CAR T cell therapy to hospitals across India.