Cell and Gene Day 2026

11:00 AM - 11:25 AM ET

Chinese competition for the world's most expensive therapies

Gene therapies from Western drugmakers have enormous price tags, putting them out of reach for many patients and families. But Chinese companies are developing alternatives. They're aiming to produce cheaper and — they'd argue — better versions of some of the most expensive drugs on the market. Can these competing therapies open gene therapy to a bigger chunk of the world?

Emma Wang

CDO/CTO

YolTech Therapeutics

Lijun Wang

CEO

CoJourney

Zhenhua Wu

Founder & CEO

Exegenesis Bio Inc.

Xiao Xiao

Co-founder, Chairman & CSO

Belief BioMed Inc. (BBM)

Jared Whitlock

Moderator

Features Editor

Endpoints News

11:30 AM - 11:50 AM ET

Running the in vivo CAR-T race: In conversation with Lynelle Hoch

Large pharmas are spending big on in-vivo CAR-T therapies. That includes BMS, which bought Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5 billion last fall. Hear from Lynelle Hoch, President of the pharma’s Cell Therapy Organization, about their investment in the space and how it fits into BMS’s broader cell therapy ambitions.

Lynelle Hoch

President, Cell Therapy Organization

Bristol Myers Squibb

Lei Wu

Moderator

reporter

Endpoints News

11:55 AM - 12:15 PM ET

If patients withdraw, critical data Is lost: Rethinking long-term follow-up in C&GT Trials

C&GTs have delivered life-changing outcomes, but their long-term success depends on follow-up models that are not meeting the needs of participants and are no longer fit for purpose. Traditional long-term follow-up (LTFU) studies place heavy logistical burdens on patients and sites, leading to low participation rates and knowledge gaps. At least 20% of CAR T-cell therapy patients drop out of studies entirely, and 80% drop by year 5. It’s time to rethink the model. This session explores a digital-first approach to LTFU designed to sustain participant engagement, reduce attrition, and maintain scientific and regulatory rigor over time.

Join us to learn how remote and hybrid interaction, seamless transitions from parent trials, and patient-centered data capture can strengthen safety monitoring, improve data quality, and better reflect the real-world impact of advanced therapies.

Pamela Tenaerts

Chief Medical Officer

Medable

Jaime Green

Moderator

Science Writer

Freelance Journalist

12:20 PM - 12:50 PM ET

Manufacturing, testing and technology innovation for rapid cell therapy

The cell therapy industry is rapidly advancing through innovations in therapeutic design, cell production technologies, and integrated manufacturing and testing platforms. Next-generation therapies are being engineered with enhanced potency, persistence and specificity, informed by deeper insights into cell metabolism, phenotype, and functional states. In parallel, automated and closed manufacturing systems are improving scalability, consistency and speed from vein-to-vein. Advances in real-time, in-process testing and analytics are enabling earlier release and tighter process control within the GMP environments. Together, these innovations are transforming complex, bespoke cell therapies into more robust, reproducible, and accessible medicines for patients.

Brian Feth

CEO

Xcellbio

Adriana Geldart

Sr. Director, Next-Generation Sequencing

ElevateBio

Felix Montero-Julian

VP of Scientific Affairs

Accellix (a bioMérieux company)

Michael Paglia

Moderator

Chief Technology Officer

ElevateBio

12:55 PM - 1:25 PM ET

“Plausible mechanism” and regulating personalized therapies

Personalized gene therapies have vast potential to treat rare, deadly disease. But the regulatory and commercial systems aren’t set up to move them to market with the necessary speed. The FDA is proposing a new approach: a “plausible mechanism pathway” that could offer a way to get one-off treatments to patients. Join experts to explore how this could work in practice, and what problems it could — and couldn’t — solve.

Fyodor Urnov

Professor; Director

UC Berkeley; IGI

Kiran Musunuru

Professor, Co-Director of Orphan Disease Center

University of Pennsylvania

Reshma Ramachandran

Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Medicine); Co-Director

Yale School of Medicine; Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency (CRRIT)

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Endpoints News

1:30 PM - 2:00 PM ET

The great DNA debate: Plasmid vs. cell-free DNA

Plasmid DNA has long been the workhorse of cell and gene therapy — supporting countless clinical programs and enabling many of the field’s most important breakthroughs. At the same time, cell-free DNA is already in the clinic, already adopted, and already being used to treat patients, operating alongside plasmid DNA as part of today’s manufacturing landscape. How can companies optimize and select the right DNA technology to meet evolving demands for scale, consistency, speed, and cost of goods? Join two leading DNA experts for a candid debate with real-world data exploring where plasmid DNA continues to excel, where cell-free DNA is uniquely positioned, and how both platforms will shape the future of the cell and gene therapy landscape.

Pratima Cherukuri

General Manager & SVP

Bionova Scientific

Jill Makin

Chief Scientific Officer

Touchlight

Julien Meissonnier

Moderator

Sr. Advisor & Board Member for Life Sciences & Drug Development Companies, Former CSO at Catalent

JMC Biopharma

Country