Somatic Cell Therapy Medicinal Products

Cell therapies are medical treatments that use living or non-living cells to treat various diseases and conditions. These therapies involve administering cells to a patient to restore, enhance, or modify biological functions by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action.

The cells used can be derived from the patient (autologous cells), a donor (allogeneic cells), or even from non-human species (xenogenic cells). While somatic cell therapies are commonly used for tissue repair, replacement, and regeneration, they also include non-viable cells for purposes like scaffolding or delivering biological signals, and are applied in areas such as immunotherapy, cancer treatments, and managing metabolic diseases.

One prominent form of cell therapy is stem cell therapy, which uses undifferentiated cells capable of developing into many different cell types to treat a variety of conditions. These therapies have shown promise in treating diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, and certain types of heart diseases.

Another area is regenerative medicine, where cell therapies aim to repair or regenerate damaged tissues, such as in cases of spinal cord injuries, osteoarthritis, or heart failure. Here, somatic cell therapy products are investigated to stimulate the growth of new, healthy tissue.

In addition to stem cells, other types of cells, like immune cells, can be harnessed for therapeutic purposes. For instance, CAR-T cell therapy is an immunotherapy where a patient’s T cells are modified to better recognize and attack cancer cells.