The Road to ATW: Cell and Gene Therapy Trends In Our 2025 Agenda
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We’ve got exciting news for you: we’ve officially launched the Advanced Therapies Week (ATW) Agenda for 2025. In case you’re not familiar with ATW, here is a short recap: our event is dedicated to helping biotech and pharmaceutical companies advance on their commercialization journey and
ATW 2025 is taking place on 20-23 January in Dallas, and we have shaped the agenda around the latest industry trends so that you can get actionable insights and practical tips to take one step closer to delivering life-changing treatments to patients.
With that in mind, this article looks at:
- The major trends for cell and gene therapies
- The implications for the future of medicine
- The parts of the Advanced Therapies Week 2025 agenda that speak to these trends
Trend 1: Investment is Showing a Slow Upswing
When reporting from the 2024 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, Biospace noted that Tim Hunt, CEO of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, said that investments reached $10.9 billion in the first half of 202. This compares favorably to 2019’s $9.8 billion total but is far below the $19.9 billion and $22.7 billion in investments made in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
While biotech has had a difficult few years when it comes to investment, this is just one of the positive signs that we’ve seen. In a recent survey, 61% of investors said that they expect their investment level in CGT technologies will increase in the next three years.
With an average failure rate of 90% for biotech startups, a better funding ecosystem will support new development, along with new R&D, technologies, and facilities.
How is This Represented on the ATW 2025 Agenda?
The Investment Summit at Advanced Therapies Week is one of the event’s most popular sections of the agenda and was oversubscribed last year. This year, the Investment Summit is taking place on the ATW Launch Day (January 20th) and will feature interactive discussions and workshops:
- Biotech funding trends in 2025
- Investor focus areas
- Early-stage biotech project criteria
- Pitfalls to avoid
You can also check out our investment tracker to see the latest deals that are happening in the sector.
Trend 2: Increased Collaboration Between Regulatory Agencies and Therapeutic Developers
The FDA and international regulatory agencies are working more closely with cell and gene therapy developers to progress approvals. International regulators are also sharing ideas and approval mechanisms, particularly for rare diseases and difficult cancers. They are focused on expanding their expertise and workforce to accommodate for the influx of new cell and gene therapies.
How is This Represented on the ATW 2025 Agenda?
We will have a fireside chat with Nicole Verdun, director of the FDA’s Office of Therapeutic Products within CBER, on Wednesday January 20th at 10am local time. Check out the agenda for more information.
Trend 3: Therapeutic Advances in New Indications and Modalities
We’re seeing therapeutic development progress in:
- New indications including autoimmune diseases, diabetes, solid tumors, neurological disorders, and cardiovascular disease
- Allogeneic (Off-The-Shelf/Donor-Derived) cell therapies
- New modalities, including adoptive cell therapy, NK Cells, TCRs, and TiLs
How is This Represented on the ATW 2025 Agenda?
Our Therapeutic Advances track will cover the latest breakthroughs in cell and gene therapy innovative pipelines from leading biotech companies. The Innovation Zone will showcase novel biotech with breakthrough therapies.
Trend 4: New Technology Aiming to Reduce Eventual Cost to the Patient
In terms of trends, we’re seeing manufacturing improvements using new automation and closed systems and bioreactor technologies. AI and machine learning is being used in discovery R&D, but also in supply chain orchestration and manufacturing process management. Decentralized manufacturing is also promising to bring the process to the patient.
Many of these technologies aim to – in the long run – reduce the cost of production and the eventual cost to the patient.
How is This Represented on the ATW 2025 Agenda?
Two of our tracks – Cell Therapy Manufacturing and Gene Therapy Manufacturing – will touch on a lot of these new technologies. The Innovation Showcase also includes a “Tech Demo” showcase for breakthrough tech.
Trend 5: Patients and Advocacy Groups Highly Involved in Supply Chain
Patients are better informed than ever due to new industry support and guidance. Therapeutic developers have to engage with patients and advocacy groups early and in a meaningful way. We’re also seeing major efforts by non-profits to engage, fund, and develop rare and ultra-rare pipelines.
How is This Represented on the ATW 2025 Agenda?
The Patient Considerations track covers patient stories, patient information, engaging with advocacy, and doing better for rare diseases. The Supply Chain track includes a variety of biotech and pharma companies that are focusing on the patient experience and needs. The Superplenary and Opening Plenary also include input from a DMD patient and a rare disease, non-profit CEO and father of a rare disease patient.
What’s Next?
If you like the sound of these sessions, why not take a look at our registration options for Advanced Therapies Week 2025.