Forte believes the cell and gene therapy market is in midst of an "industrial revolution" thanks to a "clinical revolution" that preceded it a few years ago with "well-documented data" that demonstrated these technologies were "bringing value to patients" with "unprecedented" results on some very difficult medical indications.
"The biggest challenge was to make sure that we could produce sufficient products in a cost-effective, reproducible, and consistent manner," Forte said. "CDMOs, enablers, technology -- all that started to grow and now we're seeing enormous developments of those industrial capabilities of delivering products."
Science Advisory Board spoke with Forte at last week's 2022 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa in Carlsbad, CA, organized by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), where it was announced that he had been elected to ARM's 2023 Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Forte sees ARM and ISCT as complementary organizations.
"It's important in a field like cell and gene therapy that we not only do our day job -- in my case CEO of Bone Therapeutics -- but we participate in the field because all together we need to move the dial" by collaborating with regulators, providers, and companies, Forte said.
ARM and ISCT "are particularly good for that" but they come at it from different perspectives, according to Forte. He pointed out that ARM "has got a very intense focus on lobbying" from a company perspective -- among other activities -- and while ISCT "shares those interests" that organization "tackles it more from a translational perspective bridging the work between academics, where a lot of ideas are generated, and industry where those ideas become products and reach the patients."
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