Addressing Accessibility and Affordability of CELL & GENE THERAPIES

Cell and gene therapies (CGT) are one of the hottest sectors in the pharmaceutical industry.

- Ayesha Siddiqui

Quite a few companies in the field are making remarkable advancements toward potentially curative treatments for challenging diseases using groundbreaking science. With lower R&D development costs than in advanced markets, China is becoming an attractive market for the development of CGT, and therefore may emerge as a strong competitor of overseas-made CGT, notes a GlobalData report. Bayer AG, recently announced the global expansion of its life science incubator network, Bayer Co. Lab, to Shanghai, China and Kobe, Japan.

The new site in China will focus on oncology and CGT innovations. While India lags behind China in the production of cell and gene therapies, a wave of new biotech startups is emerging to address this challenge. Immuneel Therapeutics and ImmunoACT are currently developing CAR-T cell therapies. The latter's NexCAR19 therapy received approval from India's Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) for treating relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphomas and leukemia. Despite a steady stream of regulatory approvals and promising growth prospects, the high manufacturing costs associated with these therapies often render them inaccessible to the majority of patients. 

To address this issue, companies are actively striving to streamline and optimise the highly intricate and labor-intensive process of cell and gene therapy manufacturing. Let's explore further.

The most sought-after and hot sector in the pharmaceutical industry, which has witnessed an outpouring of billions and record breaking approvals in recent times, is cell and gene therapy. Last year, the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) approved seven cell and gene therapy products, including the world's first approved CRISPR gene editing therapy, Casgevy, two cell therapy products, and the first oral faecal microbiota product, Vowst.