GE Ventures, a venture capital subsidiary of General Electric, and Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic have jointly launched Vitruvian Networks, an independent platform company focused on accelerating access to cell and gene therapies through advanced, cloud-ready software systems and manufacturing services.
Vitruvian Networks will partner with therapy producers and provide them with a leading software and manufacturing platform to bring the Internet of things to cell and gene therapies. The platform, which includes powerful business intelligence and data analytics capabilities, will be a network orchestrator for therapeutic companies.
Vitruvian Networks, which will be led by a team of life science and software development experts, will focus on the production of autologous cell therapies that target blood cancers. It will use Mayo Clinic's data related to biomarkers, cell therapy processes and clinical outcomes to guide further development of personalized therapies. The new company will also develop the supporting standards and infrastructure that will expedite discovery, delivery and regulation in the field.
"Autologous therapies in the area of regenerative and personalized medicine have shown great promise in treating life-threatening diseases," said Andre Terzic, MD, PhD, director of the MayoClinicCenter for Regenerative Medicine. "We are excited that Vitruvian Networks will further drive standardization of the industry, increase scalability and bring forward the realization of critical therapeutic potential to address the unmet needs of patients around the world."