​​Cell and gene therapy hold some of the most promising possibilities in modern medicine. Treatments can potentially treat, and in some cases cure, serious diseases where the possibilities today are limited. 

The path from solid laboratory research to a treatment that can be given to a patient is long and complex. This requires, among other things, specialised production facilities, advanced analyses, clinical competencies, and close collaboration between researchers to make early laboratory discoveries available in the healthcare system. 

This is precisely the challenge the Capital Region of Denmark and philanthropic company Cellerator will now address through the new partnership, officially launched on Monday.

“I'm delighted that with this partnership we bring strong forces together in an area with great potential for patients. For people with rare and serious diseases, advanced therapies may become crucial to new and better treatment options in the future. That is why we must be ambitious and make it easier to translate promising research into healthcare. Furthermore, the partnership is an excellent example of how we strengthen the life science area in the region," says Lars Gaardhøj (Social Democratic Party), Regional Council Chairman of the Capital Region of Denmark. 

Advanced therapies are treatments that use cells to treat disease; for example, healthy, living cells are transplanted into a patient to repair, replace, or strengthen sick cells and tissues. The field is developing rapidly, but it also comes with particular challenges. 

Many good research results never reach clinical trials. This could be due, among other things, to limited access to so-called GMP facilities, high development costs, complex regulations, and difficulties scaling production.  

In particular, the transition from research to initial human trials is a critical phase.  

This is precisely the transition the new strategic partnership between the Capital Region of Denmark and Cellerator will try to strengthen.  

“If we are to give Danish patients access to the next generation of treatments, it is not enough to be able to do research. We must also be good at getting research through development, clinical trials, and to the patient who needs treatment. This requires us to bridge the gap between the environments that currently work separately. That's what we want with this partnership," says Malene Fisher, Director of Research, Rigshospitalet and part of the partnership's steering group. 

At the same time, the collaboration will create better links between researchers, clinicians, companies and production facilities. Cellerator's research environments must be brought closer to the clinical environments at Rigshospitalet, so that we can strengthen early clinical trials and, in addition, the collaboration must support the development of self-manufactured therapies at Herlev Gentofte Hospital's National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy. 

“Denmark has strong research and treatment environments in cell therapy. However, moving promising projects toward clinical trials requires access to specialised development and production capabilities. With this partnership, we bring key competences closer together and strengthen the opportunities that researchers and clinicians must develop the next generation of treatments," says Thomas Carlsen, CEO of Cellerator. 

The Capital Region of Denmark and Cellerator will, amongst other things, work together to map clinical needs and development paths for advanced therapies.   

The ambition with the partnership is to develop the future Region of Eastern Denmark and the capital area into an internationally strong environment for research, development and treatment with advanced therapies. In the longer term, the aim is to share experience and knowledge and collaborate with other regions across the country.  

Cellerator is a philanthropic company owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The purpose of Cellerator is to bridge promising research and clinical testing of cell therapies.

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