Tackling Production Challenges through Greater Access to mRNA Technologies

Chris Spivey, editorial director for Pharmaceutical Technology, discusses messenger RNA (mRNA) advances with Guillaume Roelandts, Head of Products and Marketing, Quantoom Biosciences, at the 11th International mRNA Health Conference in Berlin, Germany. Quantoom Biosciences is a team of scientists, engineers, and clinicians committed to solving some of the biggest DNA and RNA production challenges facing vaccines and therapeutics by delivering greater access and autonomy to mRNA technology. This discussion introduces the company’s background and explores its future direction. It also covers Quantoom’s expertise in process development for mRNA synthesis and purification, and the process of validating a GMP cleanroom machine with regulators.

Quantoom Biosciences is part of Univercells, a global life sciences group with the mission of making biologics accessible to all. Launched early in the pandemic in June 2021, Quantoom entered into a strategic collaboration with eTheRNA to build an advanced, small footprint technology platform for the production of affordable RNA-based therapies. The platform can be used within existing facilities or rapidly deployed to areas of urgent need.

Milestones in Quantoom’s development include a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and the acquisition of SynHelix, which developed a technology that, with the use of bacteria, is an alternative to DNA amplification. SynHelix, later renamed Quantoom Research France, is focusing on integrating a “new generation DNA bioreactor” that could provide great benefits in productivity and cost reduction, both for R&D and production needs. The World Health Organization (WHO) interest in Quantoom, through their tech transfer program, has led to mRNA production facilities and BioPharm technologies being placed in several emerging countries.