About the Karolinska ATMP Center
The Karolinska ATMP Center, a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, is a leading ATMP Center in Europe with research, production and treatment under one roof. The center has high ambitions to strengthen and deepen collaboration with public actors and pharmaceutical companies.
Background
The major advances in research and development of advanced therapies in the ATMP field have the potential to treat and cure diseases in a way that has not been possible with traditional drugs and treatments. We are already seeing examples of gene therapy drastically improving the survival of patients suffering from certain types of cancer.
The collaboration between KI and Karolinska University Hospital on cell and gene therapies has a long tradition:
Already in 1975, the foundations were laid for today’s department of Cell Therapy and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation (CAST) in Huddinge, which is the unit in Sweden that performs the most stem cell transplants and cell therapies. Today, children and adult patients with cancer and immune diseases are offered blood stem cell transplantation and several ATMP drugs within standard treatment and clinical trials. Karolinska's program is JACIE-accredited and includes not only CAST but also pediatric hematology and transfusion medicine (KITM). At CAST, Sweden's first standard treatment with CAR-T cells was performed in 2019.
The Vecura GMP unit at the Karolinska Center for Cell Therapy (KCC) in Huddinge, which today consists of 13 clean rooms, produced Sweden's first gene therapy drug for clinical trials in 1997 and the first CAR-T cells to enter clinical trials in Europe in 2014. Another GMP facility with a special focus on immunotherapy is located at the Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Center (KCCC) in Solna.
In 2019, the first pre-GMP unit in the Nordic region was inaugurated at Karolinska Institutet Campus Flemingsberg, with five clean rooms. The pre-GMP unit is an important bridge between research laboratories and Vecura and has been instrumental in the development of two therapeutic products currently undergoing clinical trials.
Mission statement
The Karolinska ATMP Center aims to consolidate all activities in advanced therapeutics at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital to strengthen the development and implementation of cell, gene and tissue therapies.
Steering Committee
Olof Akre, R&D Director, Karolinska University Hospital.
Mathias Axelsson, Head of Medical Diagnostics Karolinska (MDK), Karolinska University Hospital.
Martin Bergö, Vice President, Karolinska Institutet.
Jonas Fuxe, Head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.
Patrik Rossi, Acting CEO, Karolinska University Hospital.
Matti Sällberg, Dean KI South, Karolinska Institutet.
Coordinator: Ewa Ellis, Associate Professor at Karolinska Institutet and ATMP Coordinator, Karolinska University Hospital.
Board of Directors
Knut Steffensen, Director, Karolinska ATMP Center.
R&D
Director: Samir EL Andaloussi, Professor, Karolinska Institutet.
Deputy Director: Rula Zain-Luqman, Docent, Karolinska University Hospital.
Production
Director: Pontus Blomberg, Docent, Karolinska University Hospital.
Deputy Director: Gustaf Ahlén, PhD, Karolinska Institutet.
Clinical Research and Implementation
Director: Stephan Mielke, Professor, Karolinska Institutet.
Deputy Director: Teng Wang, Docent, Karolinska University Hospital.
ATMP Coordinator
Ewa Ellis, coordinator