A Cell Factory at the heart of innovation: pilot project takes shape at Mind

The conference held on 30 May at Mind in Milan marked a decisive step towards the possible birth of a regional Cell Factory for advanced therapies, located at the heart of Lombardy's innovation ecosystem. The meeting - promoted following regional councillor Carlo Borghetti's agenda, approved in December 2024 - was attended by institutions, research centres and public and private stakeholders, with the aim of assessing the feasibility of a GMP (Good manufacturing practices) infrastructure dedicated to the production of innovative drugs in Milan's innovation district.

'A Cell Factory in Mind would represent a strategic opportunity for Lombardy,' explains Fabrizio Grillo, president of Federated Innovation, 'not only for the clinical development of advanced therapies, but also for the economic and competitive impact that such an infrastructure can generate in the region. The project, which is proposed as a public-private platform, aims to unite hospitals, research organisations, institutions and companies in a collaborative model, with the ambition of creating a shared facility to develop and test cell and gene therapies, now increasingly applied also to solid tumours and autoimmune diseases.

Present at the table were, among others: San Matteo President Alessandro Venturi, Professor Franco Locatelli, Senator Beatrice Lorenzin and Lombardy Region Research Councillor Alessandro Fermi. Mind, due to its vocation for translational research and the density of scientific and industrial players already present (including Human Technopole, Università Statale, Galeazzi and Politecnico), is considered the ideal place to host this 'system' cell factory. However, the technical, economic and management complexity will require a gradual planning process: a working table will be set up to assess sustainability and collect expressions of interest.

The conference also provided an opportunity to present two Federated Innovation flagship projects for the health of the future, both with a strong collaborative dimension and rooted in Mind. In the wake of the European Health Data Space, the project aims to create a pilot area for the exchange and use of health data in sandbox mode. The aim is to exploit the Mind ecosystem - which includes research centres such as Human Technopole, technology companies and hospitals - to test innovative models for the analysis, interoperability and exploitation of health data. The ambition is to support research, accelerate the development of new drugs and digital health solutions, and optimise the allocation of healthcare resources. All in a federated, secure and privacy-compliant model.

The second flagship focuses on continuity and proximity of care, proposing new models of patient care that integrate telemedicine, logistics, proximity pharmacies, and Community Homes. "It is a question of rethinking care," continues Grillo, "to guarantee early diagnosis, taking care even after the acute event, and digital solutions accessible directly on the territory. The models, tested in Mind, aim to be scalable and replicable in other regions, thanks to the synergy between innovation, technology and care.