Vancouver, Canada, March 22, 2021 - The International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT), the global society of clinicians, researchers, regulators, technologists, and industry partners dedicated to the translation of cell and gene therapy into safe and effective therapies to improve patients’ lives, today announces it will use its virtual ISCT 2021 Annual Meeting to build cross-sector consensus to translate the next wave of cell and gene therapies to patients. The summit will be held as a virtual event between May 26-28, 2021.
The ISCT Annual Meeting is a yearly summit event for the cell and gene therapy sector. It gathers representatives from all stakeholders in the cell and gene therapy field to set the aims, policies, solutions, and consensus path forward for the sector in the next 12 months.
The headline theme for the 2021 Annual Meeting is ‘Orchestrating Global CGT Translation: Building Consensus for the Path Forward’. It will provide the platform for the sector to coordinate and harmonize the development, manufacture, regulation, and delivery of therapies to patients of both large-scale and orphan indications.
“The potential of cell and gene therapies to provide solutions and potentially cures to a range of diseases is well known. However, it is vital for all those involved in the delivery of therapies to patients to coordinate efforts to harness promise into reality for the majority of patients suffering from wider indications. In particular, for rare diseases, it feels like there are currently more cell and gene therapy clinical trials than actual patients registered for these trials,” said Jaap Jan Boelens, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, US, and co-chair of ISCT’s 2021 Annual Meeting. “It is ISCT’s responsibility to patients to provide the platform for the entire cell and gene therapy field to plan a road map to move from a plethora of individual trials to a more harmonized collaborative effort. This will involve the regulation, commercial environment, and investment to support safe and effective therapies delivered to patients of large-scale indications.”
The ISCT 2021 virtual Annual Meeting will run over three days, involving three streams running concurrently with continuous LIVE sessions on each track. There will be 50 sessions in total, with the majority LIVE (42) and a further eight pre-recorded. ISCT leaders will have a very visible role delivering personal introductions, debates, key learnings, and summaries throughout the event to provide context and frame the significance of each session to different stakeholder groups attending the event.
There are six plenary sessions in the event, covering the conference’s main themes - commercializing the new wave of cell and gene therapies, mesenchymal stromal cells and applications to COVID-19, immunotherapy and gene therapy, stem cell engineering, exosomes, and regenerative medicine.
The ISCT 2021 Presidential Plenary will include three key speakers. These are Peter Marks, MD, PhD, Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration; Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS, Executive Chairman, Allogene Founder and Past CEO of Kite Pharmaceuticals; and Matthew Porteus, MD, PhD, Co-Founder, CRISPR Therapeutics & Graphite Bio and Professor at Stanford University.
“Following the first group of international product approvals, the decades of work in building the research and the knowledge for cell and gene therapies has now begun to pay off, with 10-20 cell and gene therapies being considered for regulatory approval (per year) by 2025,” said Bruce Levine, President, ISCT and Barbara and Edward Netter Professor in Cancer Gene Therapy, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. “This past year has seen unprecedented media attention and investment in the space and the largest number of cell therapy clinical trials to date. Attention is now focused on dealing with the barriers in bringing late-stage clinical products to global markets. At the 2021 ISCT Annual Meeting, the sector is poised to build consensus on addressing major questions on approaching approvals, on reimbursement and patient access.”
About the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy
Established in 1992, the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT) is a global society of clinicians, regulators, researchers, technologists and industry partners with a shared vision to translate cell and gene therapy into safe and effective therapies to improve patients’ lives worldwide.
ISCT is the global leader focused on pre-clinical and translational aspects of developing cell and gene-based therapeutics, thereby advancing scientific research into innovative treatments for patients. ISCT offers a unique collaborative environment that addresses three key areas of translation: Academia, Regulatory and Commercialization. Through strong relationships with global regulatory agencies, academic institutions and industry partners, ISCT drives the advancement of research into standard of care.
Comprised of over 2,400 cell and gene therapy experts across five geographic regions and representation from over 60 countries, ISCT members are part of a global community of peers, thought leaders and organizations invested in cell and gene therapy translation. For more information about the society, key initiatives and upcoming meetings, please visit: isctglobal.org, @ISCTglobal.
Contact Information
Image Box PR
Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall
Tel +44 (0)20 8943 4685
neil@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency
#PressReleases