Moving towards continuous batch RNA production

Thibault Jonckheere, CEO, Exothera speaks to Caroline Peachey about the company’s new continuous-batch RNA production platform.

Exothera, a CDMO headquartered in Belgium, has launched the new RNA production platform for making higher quality and cost-effective RNA therapeutics. The new platform delivers significant advantages at both small and large scale.

Unlike traditional methods, which often require extensive process optimisation and scaling efforts, the Ntensify™  leverages automation and standardisation, minimising user handling to mitigate variability. Ultimately, the platform streamlines RNA product progress, cutting typical clinical production timelines by approximately half when compared to traditional manufacturing processes and reducing overall costs.

“The big advantage of this technology is that each batch is produced in exactly the same way,” Jonckheere says. In turn this improves quality and drives down costs.

“The hope we have is that this will set a new benchmark in the industry for RNA production,” he adds.

The platform has broad applications from vaccines to personalised cancer therapeutics, he explains.

Sharing his projections for 2024, Jonckheere adds: “I think we are going to see a real crossing of the traditional cell and gene therapy approaches with the new modality of RNA that’s coming into play that will enable gene editing etc.”

Recorded at Terrapin’s Advanced Therapies conference in London.