State of the Cell Therapy Industry 2015: Approvals, Funding and the Future

By: Leah Kinthaert

At the Cell Therapy BioProcessing Pre-Conference Symposia for the BioProcess International Conference and Exposition, the packed room was treated to two "Where are we now in cell therapy" analyses which gave an excellent examination of the current state of the industry, and provided predictions and suggestions for a successful future.

Kirk Trisler, Principal at Dark Horse Consulting, opened the event with an extensive overview of the current landscape in cell therapies, going through cell therapies that have been approved and examining who the players are for cardiology, oncology, neurology, diabetes, and opthamology.

Tisler presented two helpful maps, one showing "Cell Therapy CMO Options in Europe" the other "Cell Therapy CMO Options in the US". The US map showed that the "only options for Phase III" in the US are WuXi, Lonza, PCT (one in CA, one in NJ), UC Davis, Temple, Stanford, City of Hope, and U of Iowa.

Tisler then went through a list of all cell therapies that have been approved. They are: Provenge by Dendrion; Lavir by Fibrocell; Holoclar by Chiesi; Chondrocelect by TiGenix; Carticel by Genzyme/Vericel; and Apligraf, Dermagraft and Ginutiut all by Organogenisis.

Chris Gemmiti, Business Development Lead, Wyss Institute - whose discussion was titled "State of the Industry - From Fund Raising to Partnering to Adoption and Commercial Success" - continued on the track of giving an overview for the current cell therapy space. He said that there has been over three billion dollars in federal funding for regenerative medicine over the last three years. Financing for cell therapy companies in the first half of this year alone is over seven billion dollars, with an additional eight billion in milestone payments.

Gemmiti then went on to talk about the companies who have been funded this year: including Semma, Voyager, Dimension, Unum, Regenxbio, and Audentes. "Look at Semma," he said "(they got) $44 billion in funding and they're not even at the IMD stage."

He continued with more helpful stats:

• There are 580 regenerative medicine companies worldwide
• There are 72 approved products

Gemmiti closed his presentation by cautioning the audience: "Market caps are great but they have to translate to revenue in the real world...Just having approvals and a large market cap doesn't mean commercial success."

The agenda for the PreConference Symposia on Cell Therapy Bioprocessing on Monday, October 26 can be found here.

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