Ex Vivo Expanded Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Minimal Quality Requirements for Clinical Application

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), as advanced therapy products, must satisfy all the requirements for human use of medicinal products, aiming to maintain the quality and safety of the cells. The MSC manufacturing process for clinical use should comply with the principles of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). This ensures that cell preparations are produced and controlled, from the collection and manipulation of raw materials, through the processing of intermediate products, to the quality controls, storage, labeling and packaging, and release. The objective of this document is to provide the minimal quality requirements for the MSC production and its delivery for clinical use, so that the safety of the final cell therapy product will not be compromised. For this purpose, the document evaluates the most important steps of GMP-compliant MSC production: the isolation and expansion process; the validation phase of the process, including all quality controls for the characterization, functionality, potency, and safety of MSCs; and the quality control at the batch release to guarantee the safety of patient infusion.