Pre-Conference Workshop Day

Tuesday, February 27

8:00 am Workshop Check In, Coffee & Light Breakfast

Workshop A

9:00 am Next-Generation In Vivo Immune Engineering Platforms: Considerations & Learnings to Optimise Transfer

Synopsis

Attend this workshop to:

  • Understand the differences, advantages and limitations of both ex vivo and in vivo approaches
  • Evaluate engineering methods and delivery platforms to ensure specific CAR expression in target tissue
  • Evaluate in vivo modalities from lipid nanoparticles to viral vectors to outline options for cost, payload and scalability
  • Discuss the possibility for in vivo engineering in innate immune cells as well as applicability to non-oncology indications

Workshop B

9:00 am Harnessing Combination & Co-Stimulation Approaches to Boost Efficacy, Persistence & Improve Clinical Outcomes

Synopsis

Attend this workshop to:

  • Evaluate possible combination agents for cell therapies to improve expansion rates, prime the tumour microenvironment or promote survival
  • Understand how different therapies can work synergistically to boost clinical efficacy to optimise dosing and administration
  • Implement combination therapies into clinical design to ensure patient safety and regulatory compliance

Workshop C

9:00 am Implementing & Managing a Point of Care Manufacturing Model to Reinvent Vein-to-Vein Times & Boost Accessibility

Synopsis

Attend this workshop to:

  • Reduce supply chain complexity and cost of goods by manufacturing cell therapies at clinical sites
  • Overcome analytical challenges and time constraints when working with fresh apheresis
  • Understand onboarding clinical sites and training clinicians to produce cell therapy products
  • Consolidate regulatory guidance for Point of Care manufacture to ensure compliance

12:00 pm Lunch Break & Networking

Workshop D

1:00 pm Incorporating Modular Control into Cell Therapies through Receptors to Enhance Therapy Persistence & Safety

Synopsis

Attend this workshop to:

  • Assess options to achieve modular control such as logic gating and switch receptors to boost specific efficacy at tumour site
  • Implement a switch receptor to allow precise control of cells to minimise toxicity
  • Educate clinicians on when and how to use switch receptors to modulate or terminate expression levels in patients

Workshop E

1:00 pm Optimising Clinical Trial Design & Endpoint Determination to Accelerate Trial Progression

Synopsis

Attend this workshop to:

  • Innovate clinical trial design to cater for more complex cell therapy products and combinations
  • Evaluate best-practice for dosing, biomarker development, patient selection and regulatory compliance
  • Outline how endpoints alter between early and late stage trials
  • Compare novel exploratory endpoints (e.g. ctDNA) to define potential for cell therapies

Workshop F

1:00 pm Accelerating Analytical Testing to Facilitate Rapid Product Release & Decrease End-to-End Production Time

Synopsis

Attend this workshop to:

  • Analyse current analytical processes to identify areas with potential to streamline and improve turnaround time
  • Incorporate analytical testing into automated processe to minimise error and support predictable outcomes
  • Shorten quality release timelines while maintaining reliability to accelerate release of high quality products

4:00 pm Afternoon Break & Refreshments

4:30 pm C-Level Think Tank (Invite Only)

Synopsis

An exclusive opportunity for top C-level executives from biotech & senior executives from pharma to collaborate and discuss the most pressing challenges the CAR-TCR community are facing in Europe

4:30 pm Driving Diversity in CAR-TCR (Free to Attend)

Synopsis

  • Diversity in the Workplace: Ensuring diverse representation throughout the cell therapy space
  • Diversity in Clinical Trials: Extending patient populations to include subgroups and minorities to ensure ethnic inclusion and reduce disparities

6:00 pm Refreshment Break

6:15 pm Investor & Biopharma Partnerships Evening

Synopsis

After a challenging year for cell therapy investment, join this session spotlighting big pharma, VC and investor perspectives on the current market and opportunities to stem a conversation on how investment into this promising space can be reinvigorated.

7:45 pm Close of Pre-Conference Day