The Evolution of Advanced Therapies –Phacilitate Leaders Europe Conference

The first half of 2018 has delivered several pivotal developments for the advanced therapies industry. The year began with two significant acquisitions – in January Celgene acquired Juno for $9bn and Sanofi acquired Bioverativ for $11.5bn - and the EMA recently approved the first two CAR-T cell medicines – Novartis’ Kymriah and Kite’s Yescarta. This follows a bumper year for the sector in 2017, in which Kymriah and Yescarta both received FDA approval and Gilead acquired Kite for $11.9bn. So how long will this trend continue? How can the advanced therapies industry maintain and build on this momentum and does the industry need to adapt and evolve to ensure sustainable success?  

These kinds of questions will be at the heart of discussions at Phacilitate Leaders Europe, The Evolution of Advanced Therapies taking place in London on 11^th and 12^th September. Phacilitate is a community of advanced therapies specialists. They organise award-winning events to bring people together to focus on the business and the science of advanced therapies, and they connect people digitally via their online platform, Phacilitate: Exchange. Their annual Phacilitate Leaders Europe event is one of two flagship international conferences they arrange each year to bring together the entire advanced therapies ecosystem.

This year’s event will not only address broad questions about the future of the industry, but delegates are also likely to find the answer to any and all challenges they have encountered or may encounter in the future. The interactive agenda will cover some of the most talked about topics in the industry including pricing and reimbursement, patient access and regulatory changes.

The BIA are partnering with Phacilitate for this year’s event and our members are well-represented throughout the agenda. Key opinion leaders taking to the stage include: 

• Clive Glover, Senior Global Marketing Manager, Cell & Gene Therapies, Pall Life Sciences
• Jacqueline Barry, Chief Clinical Officer, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
• Lindy Durrant, CSO; Academic Clinical Oncology, Scancell; University of Nottingham
• Markus Gershater, Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder, Synthace
• Qasim Rafiq, Senior Lecturer in Bioprocessing of Regenerative, Cellular & Gene Therapy, University College London
• Robert Thomas, Professor in Manufacturing for Cell & Gene Therapies; EPSRC Early Career Fellow, Centre for Biological Engineering, Loughborough University
• Stefano Theoharis, SVP Corporate Development & Partnering, Cell Medica
• Stephen Ward, Chief Operating Officer, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and Chair of BIA’s Manufacturing Advisory Committee
• Sven Kili, formerly VP, Head of Cell & Gene Therapy Development, GlaxoSmithKline and Chair of BIA’s Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee
• Thomas Fellner, Head of Cell & Gene Therapy, Lonza Pharma & Biotech
• Uta Griesenbach, Professor, Molecular Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London
• Dr Drew Hope, Director, Quality Operations, Autolus
• Chris Sheldon, Head of Oncology Search & Evaluation, AstraZeneca

The BIA’s Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee will also be holding their next quarterly meeting at the conference.

The full agenda is available here.

If you would like to join us at the event you can register here. BIA members can receive a 10% discount on the standard ticket price using the code BIA10.

We look forward to seeing you there!