CGTI SIG — Discussion Topics

Discussion Topics

What is the future of CAR-T cell therapy?

16–17 June, 2026

The Cell & Gene Therapy Insights Special Interest Group (SIG) brings together leading experts from across the CAR-T ecosystem to address one of the sector's most urgent and timely questions: what comes next for CAR-T cell therapy? This invitation-only initiative provides a trusted, collaborative forum for open discussion and actionable problem-solving — building consensus, defining priorities, and driving meaningful progress for the field.

Agenda outline

The agenda as a whole will address ongoing trends, technological innovation, and future pathways that are of specific importance to the autologous, allogeneic, and in vivo CAR-T areas, as well as those that are of broader relevance to the entire field. Draft working group topics include:

What are the key scientific and technical hurdles preventing the successful translation of CAR-T therapies into solid tumor indications (e.g. TME obstacles) and which specific approaches are showing the greatest promise in addressing them?
How can we better differentiate novel CAR-T cell therapy platforms in an increasingly crowded and competitive landscape?
What are the critical next steps for the CAR-T field in expanding beyond CD19 and BCMA to secure approvals for novel targets, indications, and therapeutic areas (e.g. autoimmune diseases)?
How can we improve the predictability of both therapeutic response and safety issues in diverse patient populations, particularly in the context of tumor heterogeneity?
How and where are platform-based process and analytical solutions helping to streamline development and reduce workflow complexity?
How can scalable automation be implemented earlier in processes to streamline the path to commercialization and alleviate manufacturing scalability issues?
How can upstream and downstream processes be seamlessly integrated? What tools enable real-time decision-making without compromising control?
How can we address the persistent manufacturing and logistical challenges that limit the scalability of and patient access for autologous CAR-T cell therapies?
What are the key targets for making the gains in efficiency, consistency, and cost-effectiveness required to improve the commercial viability of autologous CAR-T cell therapies?
How to reduce the high cost and resource-intensity of the current approach to scaling-out patient-specific product processes?
How are decentralized and point-of-care (PoC) manufacturing models evolving to support autologous therapies?
How and where can allogeneic CAR-T remain relevant in light of lingering concerns over safety and efficacy, and the rise of in vivo CAR-T?
How to tackle remaining challenges in scaling allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy manufacturing?
How will intelligent bioreactors optimize process scalability?
How are developers addressing issues around donor variability, cell expansion, and cryopreservation for allogeneic CAR-T?
Removing technical and operational barriers to commercial-scale cell therapy manufacturing based on iPSCs — how can process standardization, automation, and advanced analytics help close the gap between clinical promise and commercial feasibility?
In vivo CAR-T: How are the various delivery platforms currently being applied in this space stacking up against each other?
Is any one platform beginning to emerge as the optimal approach?
How to accelerate in vivo CAR-T development given the regulatory and delivery challenges?

FAQs

Who can participate in the SIG?

Participation is by invitation only and aimed at senior experts and thought leaders from across the CAR-T cell therapy community. If you're interested in contributing, you can register your interest to be considered.

When and where will the SIG take place?

The Cell & Gene Therapy Insights SIG will take place virtually on June 16–17, 2026, bringing together up to 60 selected participants from across the globe.

What happens after the meeting?

Initially, the discussion outcomes will be transformed into a White Paper, reports, and other open-access resources, ensuring the insights and strategies developed by the group have a lasting impact across the sector. Looking further ahead, additional activities and content may include webinars, articles, and in-person SIG member functions and report-outs to the attendees at major global conferences for the cell & gene therapy sector.