Jacques Galipeau, MD, on Working to Streamline Cell and Gene Therapy Development

"Every commercial developer... is doing their own thing in regards to requirements for centers to deploy their product. But now there's like half a dozen CAR Ts approved and they all have their own bespoke [characteristics]. So, one of the things is, well, let's get everybody to sort of agree what's common. You can get an accreditation at a center, you don't have to be accredited for every single one. And that's a big deal for deployment, because all these requirements are an unfunded mandate that somebody has to pay for. That's one of the big things and there are consensus statements that are made from the ASTCT partnership, the ISCT and EBMT, about what are things that can be done to streamline to smooth it to make it easier for these to be deployed through a healthcare center?”

The International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT) 2024 Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, from May 29 - June 1, brought together leaders of sister scholarly societies to discuss cell and gene therapy development. Speakers for its presidential plenary included Anna Sureda, MD, PhD, president of European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation; Amander Clark, PhD, president, International Society for Stem Cell Research; and Corey Cutler, MD, MPH, FRCP(C), president, American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, with Jacques Galipeau, MD, president, ISCT, chairing the session. The speakers discussed challenges, within each country and internationally, with cell and gene therapies and their current state of development.

CGTLive® spoke with Galipeau to learn more about the plenary and strategies to streamline cell and gene therapy development and uptake that were discussed during it. He also talked about the growing investigations of CRISPR for gene editing applications and shared his excitement for more research on CRISPR that will continue to be presented at future ISCT meetings.

REFERENCE

Galipeau J, Sureda A, Clark A, Cutler C. La présidentielle. Presented at: ISCT 2024 Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, from May 29 – June 1.