Opportunities for AI to assist Cell & Gene therapy companies

The cell and gene therapy (CGT) sector saw remarkable progress in the last few years, with a dramatic increase in the number of pipelines and approved products. However, despite the considerable advances, the CGT market is still facing numerous challenges that are hindering its growth and delaying the broad uptake of these therapies in the healthcare system. Examples of challenges in this space include the limited understanding of certain diseases, the complex nature of these therapies, and limitations in the scale-up and optimization of manufacturing processes. Driven by advancements in digital technologies and computing power as well as the proliferation of data, we are witnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions being applied to the CGT sector. The hope is to overcome the challenges preventing mainstream adoption by analyzing and deriving insights from large amount of data. Although AI/ML is still in a nascent stage in the CGT sector, we expect the technology to transform both the ecosystem and value chain of CGT.

AI’s potential impact on the pharma R&D business model & investment strategy

AI is expected to revolutionize the CGT sector in a way similar to how it disrupted the traditional pharma industry for small molecule development and manufacturing.

The CGT ecosystem consists of a complex network of interactions between a number of stakeholder types, including major pharma, biotech companies, equipment manufacturers, software developers, and healthcare providers. In the last few years, several AI and ML technology vendors have emerged to collaborate with CGT developers and manufacturers to address challenges through advanced data analytics and AI-based tools. This is unleashing new opportunities in the area throughout the CGT value chain from early R&D to post-commercialization.

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