Cell and gene therapy at the heart of healthcare innovation

An Expert View from Mark Brewer, research director, Life Sciences, finnCap.

Heralding an encouraging new era of innovative technologies within the life sciences sector with long-term benefits and curative potential, cell and gene therapy (CGT) has been seen as the ‘future’ of medicine for many years.

We are closer than ever to that future becoming the present. The year 2021 was one of highs and lows - the year was historical in terms of fundraising, driven by increasing VC interest in addition to public market appetite for the sector. We expect to see the strong M&A activity of 2021 continuing into 2022 and beyond, as large pharma continues to bolster its access to CGT technology, manufacturing, and product pipelines. We see more and more CGT therapies and technologies coming of age, as the sector navigates challenges such as safety and tolerability, manufacturing, reimbursement, and the regulatory framework against the backdrop of the best year on record for potential approvals.