A Year in Review, A Year in Flux
Twelve months spent covering the raging torrents of the cell and gene therapy space have left me emotionally invested… and anxious
In the summer of 2021, I was given the helm of The Medicine Maker’s coverage of the cell and gene field. Since then, so much water has passed under the bridge.
I’ve been immersed in the history, status quo, and possible futures of these remarkable therapies. Online and offline, I’ve picked the brains of the vanguard and figureheads of the field, learning their stories and building a more complete picture of advanced therapy and where it is going.
Flicking back through our newsletter archives, I see wave upon wave, strata upon strata of achievements reshaping a steadily expanding landscape. New sites built, new deals inked. Square meters filled in the thousand, currencies spent in the millions and billions, binding companies across continents and oceans. Starts and stutters of trials launched, paused, completed, and shut down following “miracle” cures, tragic deaths, and less dramatic – but still crucial – partial alleviations in human suffering.
One question facing cell and gene therapy that remains a constant – one that we should all care about – concerns cost. For my entire lifetime, the gap between the world’s richest and poorest people has been expanding. And, as that gulf yawns wider, the utopian promise of cell and gene therapies surely means little if only the wealthiest nations and individuals can afford them.
In our weekly cell and gene newsletter (subscribe at tmm.txp.to/cg-reg), I launched a series called “The Cell and Gene Champions,” in which I pitched thought-provoking questions to the community, sharing the strongest answers. The question closest to my heart was – unsurprisingly – “How do we ensure that not only the rich benefit from cell and gene therapy?”
In this special supplement to The Medicine Maker, you will find thoughts on how we bring cell and gene therapies to the many and not the few – as well as other contributions from our Cell and Gene Champions. You will also gain access to a wealth of additional insight into this high-stakes field from visionaries such as Bruce Levine of the University of Pennsylvania, Miguel Forte of BioSenic, and Marianthi Psaha of Santen.
Perhaps you will walk away from it with your curiosity sated. Perhaps you will be full of nervous energy and eager to learn more. In either case, I will consider my mission accomplished.
Angus Stewart
Associate Editor, The Medicine Maker
Sponsors
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Launched in 2022, OmniaBio Inc. enables focused manufacturing for cell and gene therapies (CGTs), from clinical to commercial scale. As a subsidiary of CCRM, OmniaBio builds on an established reputation built over a decade, with proven expertise in process development and good manufacturing practices (GMP)-compliant manufacturing.
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