Meeting on the Med 2021 | Improving patient access to advanced therapies: are we ready for them?

Durhane Wong-Rieger, PhD, Rare Disease International, Toronto, ON, calls for the field of cell and gene therapies and healthcare systems to work towards improving patient access to therapies. The costs associated with novel therapies and the lack of established payment systems, as well as a lack of adequate infrastructure for the delivery of therapies, remain key obstacles for many patients, which will only be exacerbated as therapies for more common indications such as cardiovascular disease become approved in the future. This interview took place during the Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mediterranean 2021 virtual conference.