Cell therapy lends itself to countless technical modifications, each with their own theoretical value propositions positioned to address shortcomings of existing modalities. Platform technologies are proliferating at a dizzying pace as well-funded investigators discover and spin out novel technologies for translation and value-inflection. All the while, investors and would-be partners continue to rotate funds into the cell therapy arena as the search of novel means to address unmet needs marches forth in a field that has yet to feel the pinch of pricing restrictions. Innovative companies with a mandate to develop new platforms face a bevvy of strategic questions, most pressingly that of how best to validate the platform without sacrificing time or commercial potential from lead clinical candidates. Chief among such considerations is positioning strategy – choice of targets, indications for lead programs – the shaping of which dictates where one sits on the spectra of clinical and commercial risk.
Moderator: Joel S. Sandler, PhD, Principal, Cancer Cell Therapy Lead, Cello Health BioConsulting
Panelists:
- Robert Ang, MD, MBA, President & CEO, Vor Bio Pharm
- Debora Barton, MD, CMO, Carisma Therapeutics Inc.
- Lawrence Lamb, Phd, Scientific Co-Founder & CSO, in8bio
- Jan ter Meulen, MD, PhD, CSO, Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc.
- Dan Shoemaker, PhD, CSO, Fate
- Arndt Schottelius, MD, PhD, CSO, Affimed