July 24th, 2023
Anchored with a major ivy league University that literally gave birth to the Cell, Gene, and RNA therapies, Greater Philadelphia has been for decades not only a world leader in research and education of life science and medicine, but also a place with an abundance of available high quality biotech infrastructure, ample service providers, and good quality of lives. Long been a vibrant hub of biotech and pharmaceutical industry, Greater Philadelphia almost has it all, though it still pales in comparation with Boston and New York in number of major VC investments.
In 2022, SAPA-GP, a large non-profit organization of biotech professionals in the Greater Philadelphia area, organized the inaugural @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference to showcase the area’s vibrant biotech ecosystem and global leadership in cell and gene therapies. Building on last year’s success, the 2023 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference (https://atphilly.org/) aimed to become a premium platform to illustrate the cutting-edge sciences in the fields of cell, gene, and RNA therapies, and to connect biotech business leaders with investors, scientific innovators, as well as service providers.
Held on June 23-24th at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel near King of Prussia, northwest of Philadelphia, the 2023 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference featured five prominent keynote speakers, including James Wilson, MD, PhD, Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Peter Marks, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA; Federico Mingozzi, PhD, Chief Science & Technology Officer at Spark Therapeutics; Katherine High, MD, Visiting Professor at Rockefeller University in New York; and Sheila Mikhail, JD, MBA, Co-Founder and Former CEO of AskBio.
For two days, over seventy accomplished speakers delivered dozens of presentations, panel talks, and roundtable discussions on wide ranging topics covering discovery research, clinical development, regulatory, manufacture, investment, and business. The conference was sponsored by over twenty companies. Nearly six hundred life scientists, pharmaceutical professionals, and business executives attended the conference in person.
Dr. James M. Wilson, Director of the Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania and a world-renowned trailblazer in gene therapy, delivered the conference’s opening keynote address to a standing-room only crowd of over three hundred attendees. While acknowledging the tremendous scientific achievements of gene therapies and their potential to offer cures for many genetic diseases, he warned that the interest in supporting the development of gene therapies, especially for rare diseases, is in decline due to high costs. The key to overcoming these challenges lies in more innovation. “My final words to all of you are: Let’s be disruptive.”
He was followed by a keynote address from Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA, who supervises the development and approval of new cell and gene therapies in the U.S. He highlighted the speedy progress of the gene therapy field, now with 14 FDA approved gene therapies, the latest addition (Elevidys) was approved the day before the conference. Dr Marks alerted the audience that gene therapy is at a critical juncture at this time, citing various contributing factors, particularly the challenges associated with manufacturing. He shared several forward-thinking initiatives being considered by the FDA to accelerate drug development and approvals. Given the high cost of cell and gene therapies, he passionately advocated for global cooperation to make cell and gene therapies accessible not only to high-income countries but also to low and middle-income countries.
In partnership with the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, the conference expanded its unique @Philly forum, featuring three sessions of panel talks, with 14 esteemed panel members, dedicated to highlight Greater Philadelphia’s strengths in cell and gene therapy research, development, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on government policy, business environment, and investment. Attendees had the opportunity to explore the region’s competitive advantages and identify opportunities for growth, innovation, and sustainable development in the area.
“It’s great to be able to participate. I’m delighted it’s based in the Philadelphia area. I take great pride in what happens in gene and cell therapy in Philadelphia. But what’s impressed me was that the diversity of the crowd, the quality of the speakers, the conversation we had so far has been really deep and rich,” remarked Dr. James Wilson.
“It’s a really exciting time, the growth curve, and a lot of that innovation has come out of Philadelphia. I’m really impressed with the enthusiasm but first of all it’s a tremendously packed conference. Second, the enthusiasm of people who have come and the quality of the questions really thought provoking. I really enjoyed it,” added Dr. Peter Marks.
“This is my first time at SAPA-GP. The crowd is very enthusiastic, and the conversation is amazing. The things that I’m so excited about today is just such a broad and diverse array of people attending,” noted Kate Sullivan, Vice President of Business Investment and Regional Marketing at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia.
The Greater Philadelphia region has a long history in taking the global leadership in the discovery and development of Cell and Gene therapies. Four FDA-approved therapies have originated here, including the first cell therapy (Kymriah®) and the first gene therapy (Luxturna®).
“Happy to see so many scientific innovators and business leaders coming together to forge new paths into the future,” remarked Dr Haichen Yang, the conference co-chair and immediate past president of SAPA-GP.
“SAPA-GP is thrilled to organize the @Philly CGT conference to showcase Greater Philly’s leadership in the field of CGT and support Philly’s thriving biotech ecosystem. The conference was filled with excitement over latest innovations and rapid growth of the region’s biotech industry,” commented Dr. Yang Yuan, the conference co-chair and current president of SAPA-GP.
With two successful conferences under the belt, SAPA-GP is gearing up to make the annual conference a must-attend event in the biotech scene of Greater Philadelphia. The 2024 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference is scheduled to be held on June 14-15, 2024. For more information about the programs and opportunities at SAPA-GP, please visit https://sapagp.org/.
About SAPA-GP
Founded in 2002, SAPA’s mission is to promote pharmaceutical sciences and biotechnology, facilitate scientific and business cooperation, and foster the career development of pharmaceutical professionals. With over 4,000 members, each year SAPA-GP hosts many programs in science, business, and career development. It exercises increasing influence in shaping favorable business environments in the Greater Philadelphia area.
June 30th, 2023
June 26th, 2023
PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jun 26, 2023–
On June 23-24, SAPA-GP held the 2023 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel in the suburb of Philadelphia. Building on last year’s successful inaugural conference, the 2023 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference has grown to become a premium platform to showcase the cutting-edge sciences in the fields of cell, gene, and RNA therapies, and to connect biotech business leaders with investors, scientific innovators, as well as service providers. The conference was sponsored by over twenty companies. Nearly six hundred life scientists, pharmaceutical professionals, and business executives attended the conference in person.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230626844082/en/
Dr. James M. Wilson delivered his keynote address to the conference (Photo: Business Wire)
Dr. Haichen Yang, the conference co-chair and immediate past president of SAPA-GP, opened the conference with a welcome address. Dr. James M. Wilson, Director of the Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania and a world-renowned trailblazer in gene therapy, delivered the conference’s initial keynote address to a standing-room only crowd of over three hundred attendees. He was followed by a keynote address from Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA, who supervises the development and approval of new cell and gene therapies in the U.S. Both speakers emphasized the need to lower the cost of cell and gene therapies and build a sustainable business model to cure patients.
Then the conference broke into five parallel tracks on gene therapy, CMC, and various business forums. Dr. Federico Mingozzi, CSO/CTO of Spark Therapeutics, gave the afternoon keynote speech on the process and challenges in developing AAV-based gene therapies.
The second day of the conference was opened by Dr. Yang Yuan, the conference co-chair and current president of SAPA-GP. Dr. Katherine High, visiting professor at Rockefeller University and a celebrated pioneer of gene therapy, made a keynote speech on the current state and challenges of the AAV gene therapy. The ensuing five parallel tracks addressed cell therapy, clinical development and regulatory, RNA therapy, as well as many business concerns of the day. In the afternoon, Sheila Mikhail, co-founder/former CEO of AskBio, gave the final keynote speech. She drew on her own life experience to illustrate the needs to deliver effective therapies to patients with rare conditions, who under current insurance models would be left untreated.
For two days, over seventy accomplished speakers delivered several dozen presentations, panel talks, and roundtable discussions. The @Philly forum, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, featured three panel talks dedicated to highlight Greater Philadelphia’s strengths and challenges in research, development, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship. Panelists engaged in in-depth analysis with audiences on the state of Greater Philadelphia’s biotech ecosystem.
“Happy to see so many scientific innovators and business leaders coming together to forge new paths into the future,” remarked Dr Haichen Yang, the conference co-chair and immediate past president of SAPA-GP.
“SAPA-GP is thrilled to organize the @Philly CGT conference to showcase Greater Philly’s leadership in the field of CGT and support Philly’s thriving biotech ecosystem. The conference was filled with excitement over latest innovations and rapid growth of the region’s biotech industry,” commented Dr. Yang Yuan, the conference co-chair and current president of SAPA-GP.
The 2024 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference is scheduled to be held in June 2024. For more information about the programs and opportunities at SAPA-GP, please visit https://sapagp.org/.
About SAPA-GP
Founded in 2002, SAPA’s mission is to promote pharmaceutical sciences and biotechnology, facilitate scientific and business cooperation, and foster the career development of pharmaceutical professionals. With over 4,000 members, each year SAPA-GP hosts many programs in science, business, and career development. It exercises increasing influence in shaping favorable business environments in the Greater Philadelphia area.
View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230626844082/en/
CONTACT: Bill Lu
Head of PR, SAPA-GP
4043101769
bill.lu@sapa-gp.org
June 26th, 2023
PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)– On June 23-24, SAPA-GP held the 2023 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel in the suburb of Philadelphia. Building on last year’s successful inaugural conference, the 2023 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference has grown to become a premium platform to showcase the cutting-edge sciences in the fields of cell, gene, and RNA therapies, and to connect biotech business leaders with investors, scientific innovators, as well as service providers. The conference was sponsored by over twenty companies. Nearly six hundred life scientists, pharmaceutical professionals, and business executives attended the conference in person.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230626844082/en/
Dr. Haichen Yang, the conference co-chair and immediate past president of SAPA-GP, opened the conference with a welcome address. Dr. James M. Wilson, Director of the Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania and a world-renowned trailblazer in gene therapy, delivered the conference’s initial keynote address to a standing-room only crowd of over three hundred attendees. He was followed by a keynote address from Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA, who supervises the development and approval of new cell and gene therapies in the U.S. Both speakers emphasized the need to lower the cost of cell and gene therapies and build a sustainable business model to cure patients.
Then the conference broke into five parallel tracks on gene therapy, CMC, and various business forums. Dr. Federico Mingozzi, CSO/CTO of Spark Therapeutics, gave the afternoon keynote speech on the process and challenges in developing AAV-based gene therapies.
The second day of the conference was opened by Dr. Yang Yuan, the conference co-chair and current president of SAPA-GP. Dr. Katherine High, visiting professor at Rockefeller University and a celebrated pioneer of gene therapy, made a keynote speech on the current state and challenges of the AAV gene therapy. The ensuing five parallel tracks addressed cell therapy, clinical development and regulatory, RNA therapy, as well as many business concerns of the day. In the afternoon, Sheila Mikhail, co-founder/former CEO of AskBio, gave the final keynote speech. She drew on her own life experience to illustrate the needs to deliver effective therapies to patients with rare conditions, who under current insurance models would be left untreated.
For two days, over seventy accomplished speakers delivered several dozen presentations, panel talks, and roundtable discussions. The @Philly forum, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, featured three panel talks dedicated to highlight Greater Philadelphia’s strengths and challenges in research, development, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship. Panelists engaged in in-depth analysis with audiences on the state of Greater Philadelphia’s biotech ecosystem.
“Happy to see so many scientific innovators and business leaders coming together to forge new paths into the future,” remarked Dr Haichen Yang, the conference co-chair and immediate past president of SAPA-GP.
“SAPA-GP is thrilled to organize the @Philly CGT conference to showcase Greater Philly’s leadership in the field of CGT and support Philly’s thriving biotech ecosystem. The conference was filled with excitement over latest innovations and rapid growth of the region’s biotech industry,” commented Dr. Yang Yuan, the conference co-chair and current president of SAPA-GP.
The 2024 @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference is scheduled to be held in June 2024. For more information about the programs and opportunities at SAPA-GP, please visit https://sapagp.org/.
About SAPA-GP
Founded in 2002, SAPA’s mission is to promote pharmaceutical sciences and biotechnology, facilitate scientific and business cooperation, and foster the career development of pharmaceutical professionals. With over 4,000 members, each year SAPA-GP hosts many programs in science, business, and career development. It exercises increasing influence in shaping favorable business environments in the Greater Philadelphia area.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230626844082/en/
CONTACTS
Bill Lu
Head of PR, SAPA-GP
4043101769
bill.lu@sapa-gp.org
July 28th, 2022
Report from Business Wire – The Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association-Greater Philadelphia (SAPA-GP) Hosted the Inaugural @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference
PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Inaugural @Philly Cell and Gene Therapy Annual Conference (https://atphilly.org/) was held on June 17-18 at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel northwest of Philadelphia. Organized by the Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association-Greater Philadelphia (SAPA-GP. https://sapagp.org/), the conference was sponsored by twenty-nine companies. Over five-hundred life scientists, pharmaceutical professionals, and business executives attended the conference.
For two days, over eighty speakers made more than seventy presentations in nine parallel tracks, covering wide ranging topics including gene therapy discovery, next generation cell therapy, CMC, clinical development and regulatory, business environment in the greater Philadelphia area, cell and gene therapy in China, as well as biotech entrepreneurship. Rick Jones, partner of BioAdvance in Philadelphia, made the plenary opening remarks “Why Philly for CGT? Because Innovation is in Our Bones”. Dr Philip J. Brooks, the acting director of NIH Division of Rare Diseases Research Innovation of National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, gave the plenary speech “The Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC) and Related Efforts: Moving Beyond ‘One Disease at a Time’”. Dr Peter Marks, the director of FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, delivered the keynote speech “FDA’s Efforts to Facilitate the Development of Cell and Gene Therapies”.
Among the highlights of the conference was a dinner gala conversation with Emily Kramer-Golinkoff, a patient of a rare form of cystic fibrosis and the founder of Emily’s Entourage, talking about her trailblazing work in accelerating the development of critical medicines for cystic fibrosis patients with rare nonsense mutations like hers. Emily’s story provided a roadmap for engaging patients in the journey of finding life-saving medicines for rare genetic diseases.
In addition to scientific contents, the conference offered a unique @Philly forum which highlighted key initiatives and premium research and manufacture centers in the Greater Philadelphia region.
The Greater Philadelphia area has long been a vibrant hub of biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Over the last three decades, scientists and entrepreneurs in the Greater Philadelphia region have held the global leadership in the discovery and development of Cell and Gene therapies. Four FDA-approved therapies have originated here, including the 1st cell therapy (Kymriah®) and the 1st gene therapy (Luxturna®).
“It took three years for us to bring a vision into reality. We are giving a big shout out to the cell and gene therapy industry in the Greater Philadelphia region,” said Dr Jing Yang, Chief Scientific Officer of BaseCure Therapeutics, co-chair of the conference, and the SAPA-GP President in 2019-2020.
“We wanted to shine a spotlight on the greater Philadelphia area’s collective scientific leadership and business advantages in cell and gene therapy research, development, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship,” commented Dr Haichen Yang, VP at Amicus Therapeutics, co-chair of the conference, and the current president of SAPA-GP.
Indeed, the conference has succeeded in its goal of becoming a major gathering of brilliant minds in the field of cell and gene therapy. It’s poising to gain significant influence in the years to come.
About SAPA-GP
Founded in 2002, SAPA’s mission is to promote pharmaceutical sciences and biotechnology, facilitate scientific and business cooperation, and foster the career development of pharmaceutical professionals. With over 4,000 members, each year SAPA-GP hosts many programs in science, business, and career development. It exercises increasing influence in shaping favorable business environments in the Greater Philadelphia area.
Contacts
Haichen Yang
President, SAPA-GP
9085463196
haichen.yang@sapa-gp.org
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