Cell and Gene Therapy: The Upcoming Frontier in Pharmaceutical Industry

ElevateBio, a newly launched pharmaceutical company near Boston, is not a traditional contractual developer but is shifting its focus to in-demand Cell and Gene Therapy. The company is somewhat identical to the biotech incubator, but not exactly.  The Philadelphia-area venture is perhaps more like BioCentriq, a university-based services firm now opening in New Jersey. But there are differences.

These three companies are directing their services in the burgeoning cell and gene therapy industry. In the new synopsis, they are helping to create a completely new branch of the pharmaceutical world. They will be competing with each other and a handful of giant companies that are also investing in the Cell and Gene Therapy industry.The most likely pool for talent is the pharmaceutical industry, Bigelow says. “For instance, people with mammalian cell culture experience can bring important capabilities for cell line development, downstream processing, and analytical methods.”

Workforce development of the supplies is a posing threat for the companies before they think about the inception of the Cell and Gene Therapy industry sector. Moreover, the demand for services currently outstrips supply—supply not only of research and manufacturing capacity but also of an educated, fully trained workforce. Competition for talent, by all accounts, is cutthroat.

There is a cluster of potential good hires present within the industry. The hires are exasperated across the cities of Boston, San Francisco, Bethesda, and Maryland. But these hubs are emerging as hotspots for the services firms and are categorizing into a handful of locations for pharmaceutical setup. These places therefore would make the staff retention a problem as the market would be fierce and volatile. Gigantic companies are willing to set up their industrial base so that they can capture the market base emerging for Cell and Gene Therapy.