Quarter Century Update: How can Partnerships Between Academia, Biotech, and Pharma be Better Structured?

The past 25 years, from 2000 to 2025, have been an unprecedented and rapid period of development of the field of cell and gene therapy. A number of critical breakthroughs have occurred in this time, and the technologies have gone from preclinical musings to realities of standard clinical practice, at least in a few key indications like hematologic malignancies and neuromuscular disease. To get a perspective on how far we've come, and how far we have yet to go, CGTLive® reached out to Deborah Phippard, PhD, the chief scientific officer of Precision for Medicine, and Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, the chair of the department of medicine and the deputy director at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, to hold a Special Report discussion on the topic entitled: "Quarter Century Update: What’s Holding up Progress in Development? Where Have We Seen the Most?"

In this episode, Brentjens and Phippard discussed the evolving, but still imperfect relationship between academia and industry in advancing cell and gene therapies. Brentjens reflected on how the 2 sectors were once completely separate, but have moved closer over time. Although, he noted major gaps remain, especially in funding and translating early academic discoveries into clinical trials. He argued that closer collaboration could accelerate progress, pointing out that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell constructs now FDA-approved were first conceived decades ago. Phippard agreed, observing that while partnerships between biotech startups and large pharmaceutical companies are becoming more common, progress remains slow because of the disruptive nature and risks of these technologies. Both emphasized that despite major promise, the development path for cell and gene therapies is still complex, costly, and far from straightforward.