Kick-off meeting held for Reforgene's Guangdong Provincial Key R&D Program project

On November 30, 2023, under the guidance of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, the kick-off meeting of the Guangdong Provincial Key R&D Program project "Gene Editing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Products and R&D Platform for Treating Blood Genetic Diseases", led by Guangzhou Reforgene Medicine Co., Ltd. ("Reforgene"), was successfully held.

As the leading unit of the project, Reforgene aims to build a gene editing hematopoietic stem cell R&D platform for treating blood genetic diseases, carry out systematic arrangements for gene therapy of blood genetic diseases including thalassemia, and accelerate the development, clinical and industrial translation of gene therapy for multiple genetic diseases. This meeting was not only the formal launch of the project, but also an exchange meeting for experts from multiple clinical and academic institutions to conduct in-depth discussions on technology translation.

At the meeting, project leader Dr. Liang Junbin gave an overall report on the project, first explaining the research objectives and content of the project, and detailing the key technical problems the project will solve and the main acceptance indicators. At the same time, he reported the current accumulated progress of the project and the next work arrangement plan. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, the joint applicant units of the project, also gave introductions on their respective clinical research parts.

The expert institutions participating in the project kick-off meeting included the 923rd Hospital of the PLA, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Medical University, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University and the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The attending experts discussed the overall scheme design and stage data of the project, conducted in-depth discussions on the research content and scheme of the project, and put forward pertinent and professional suggestions on overall coordination, task node control and assessment indicator completion during project implementation.

Leaders from the Science and Technology Innovation Monitoring Research Center also gave guidance opinions and expectations on the management of this project at the meeting. It is believed that with scientific planning and effective execution, this project will succeed and bring significant benefits to society.

The successful holding of this project kick-off meeting laid a solid foundation for the successful implementation of the project. The R&D project is expected to promote gene editing drug products for blood genetic diseases to serve clinical practice as soon as possible, thereby reducing the health burden of blood genetic diseases on the country and patients, driving the industrialization of gene editing, and achieving greater economic and social benefits.