Regulatory Aspects of ATMP Versus Minimally Manipulated Immune Cells

Abstract

AbstractIn 2023, three categories of therapeutic products obtained through the collection and subsequent engineering of hematopoietic cells exist and are valuable to patients treated for neoplastic diseases as well as a variety of nonneoplastic disorders: blood cell transfusions, stem and immune cell transplants, and cellular therapy medicinal products. The procurement and nature of various blood products and transfusion practices are described elsewhere in this handbook. In this chapter, we focus on hematopoietic cellular therapies as currently defined and managed in the FACT-JACIE International Standards for Hematopoietic Cellular Therapies (nowadays in version 8). Over the last two decades, major changes have occurred in the EU regulatory framework (as well as in other parts of the world, notably in the USA) that result in the coexistence of two categories of hematopoietic cellular therapies. Innovative and industry-manufactured somatic cell therapy or gene therapy medicinal products have entered the field at an accelerating pace since the last edition of this handbook. Some of them are distributed worldwide on a large scale, and a few of these medicinal products already complete or compete with traditional hematopoietic cell transplantation practices. We here update the description of organizational consequences of this historical transition for academic facilities and the new opportunities as well as challenges these advances are bringing to patients and healthcare practitioners, including strong needs for educational initiatives.