So, interestingly, the procedure can be done in a central facility, so people don’t necessarily have to have at their centre the ability to treat the cells. They simply can collect the peripheral blood cells, so cells that are circulating in the blood, from the donor and this is done easily using what we call an apheresis machine and therefore you collect the white blood cells and the cells can be shipped to a manufacturing facility...
So, interestingly, the procedure can be done in a central facility, so people don’t necessarily have to have at their centre the ability to treat the cells. They simply can collect the peripheral blood cells, so cells that are circulating in the blood, from the donor and this is done easily using what we call an apheresis machine and therefore you collect the white blood cells and the cells can be shipped to a manufacturing facility. The cells are modified and returned to the center who then administers them to the patient. So it’s really a fairly simple process, and interestingly, what we saw as an obstacle before is now becoming something that is quite acceptable and is going to be routine.
I think that we used to think that we it would be good only if we did it in our own lab, and now with the whole field of CAR technology and antiviral technology and anti leukemia, it’s clear that everybody can now start to produce their own cells, so if we want high-priority product we’re going to have to send out these cells to various manufacturing facilities, and since you’re you’re asking about the future, I think that in a few years we could imagine having machines where you actually put your graph and have an automated process where all the regions come in, the cells are manipulated, and all that process that’s currently hands-on is fully automated, and in the end you would get your cells treated. And that’s not far-fetched because people are working right now on this, which means in a few years, likely we’ll be there.
