Keynote: Evolution of Cell Therapy

The past decade of drug development has been marked by an exponential growth in cell therapy products, primarily in hematologic and oncologic indications with multiple approvals paving the regulatory and clinicals pathways for pipeline programs in oncology. The approval of these products has established the foundation for evaluation of other novel cell therapies beyond oncology indications such as auto-immune and auto-inflammatory disorders and is the current focus of many research groups, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Some of the major limitation that exist with approved cellular therapy products are cost of good, overall development costs and turn-around time; therefore, significant focus has been placed on the development of allogenic or off-the-shelf therapies. The first allogenic product was recently approved by the FDA and has provided a significant technological advance in the field of cell therapies. This Keynote session will discuss the evolution of cell therapy over the past decade with a focus on recent developments in the oncology field and the expansion into auto-immune, auto-inflammatory and genetic diseases.