To carry this project through, Généthon set up a wide network of national and international collaborations from 1997 to 2003 in order to develop techniques and gene therapy tools to encourage the use and manipulation of vectors in research work.

In France the Gene Vector Production Network (GVPN) partners were Généthon at Evry, the AFM’s laboratory directed by Dr Olivier Danos and the gene therapy laboratory of the University Hospital at Nantes directed by Dr Philippe Moullier. At the end of 2002 the GVPN network expanded with the inclusion of two new laboratories, at Geneva and Barcelona.

This national network set out to research into, construct and produce innovative high-quality standardised vectors for gene therapy experiments. From 1997 to 2003 this network issued 2 500 batches of vectors to approximately 350 French and international research teams leading experiments into both rare and frequent diseases – liver disease, neuromuscular diseases, cancers, diabetes etc. In all more than 80 diseases were involved.

Thanks to the GVPN the scientific community has acquired know-how in the field of vector production and in fundamental and pre-clinical work preliminary to gene therapy.

As this objective has now been largely achieved, the network is not being continued in its present form. For the AFM, the GVPN remains a tool of general interest from which it will be disengaging once handover is ensured.
However, it will continue its support for the member-laboratories as centres of general interest in the field of gene therapy and focusing on pre-clinical and even clinical projects, but wishes progressively to hand back the funding to public research institutions.

Therefore, in 2004 the AFM renewed its support for two European vector production centres – the University Medical Centre at Geneva, a centre of reference for lentiviral vectors and the Gene Therapy Centre (LPVU) at Barcelona, which began its activities in 2004.