Bella Neufeld, PhD, on Addressing Pain Points in AAV Gene Therapy Development

“...We have essentially developed an entire research and development team of AAV experts to try to understand where the pain points are. Many people are surprised to hear that a company that's been around for 25 years making agar plates and buffers have put the infrastructure in to have an end-to-end AAV platform in-house, but that's exactly what we've done. The reason that we've done that is because we really want to understand this workflow and to be able to develop novel solutions that address the pain points in that workflow.”

Teknova recently announced a new line of products intended to streamline manufacturing process development for adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector-based gene therapies. The first product in this line, the AAV-Tek AEX Buffer Screening Kit, which has already launched, is intended to assist gene therapy developers in selecting the ideal buffer solution for the polishing step within the AAV manufacturing workflow, thus simplifying 1 part of the process of bringing a new gene therapy product towards the clinic. The product is the first step in Teknova’s efforts to identify and address pain points in the development process for AAV gene therapies.

In an interview with CGTLive™, Bella Neufeld, PhD, the director of research and development at Teknova, discussed the company’s future plans for the product line and how they could potentially impact gene therapy development. She highlighted the fact that the company has installed an end-to-end AAV platform in-house in order to better examine AAV gene therapy manufacturing workflow and identify additional areas of interest for improvement. Neufeld also discussed the AAV-Tek AEX Buffer Screening Kit in more detail and emphasized that Teknova’s consultation services for the buffer selection process will be a key part of the product’s impact.

REFERENCE

Teknova launches proprietary AAV-Tek™ solutions gene therapy product line to accelerate the development of AAV therapies. News release. Alpha Teknova, Inc. May 2, 2023. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://ir.teknova.com/news-releases/news-release-details/teknova-launches-proprietary-aav-tektm-solutions-gene-therapy