ASGCT CEO David Barrett Previews the Upcoming Conference in Boston

The American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) meeting kicks off in Boston next week. The annual event will be a whirlwind of sessions, keynotes, fireside chats, posters, and exhibitors. For the second year in a row, GEN spoke with David Barrett, JD, who has been the CEO of ASGCT since 2016. In this interview, we discuss his perspective on the event, if there is anything new that attendees should be looking out for, and what he, personally, is most looking forward to. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. LeMieux: The ASGCT meeting is an annual event. What are some of the things that will make this year’s meeting special? Barrett: There is a lot that is special this year. First and foremost, it feels like a bit of a homecoming which is really exciting. The last time we were in Boston was in 2008. And Boston is a city and community where gene therapy, biotech, and research are all located. You can feel it when you’re in Cambridge and I think you are absolutely going to feel that when you’re inside the convention center. The fact that the meeting is in Boston this year is also special for me because one of the very first things I did when I joined ASGCT in 2016, was to source the location for the 2020 annual meeting at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. I was very excited and it was the first time we were going to take up an entire convention center. But that meeting, of course, did not happen; it had to be canceled because of COVID. So that makes this meeting in Boston particularly special. We finally get to have the meeting in Boston that I’ve been hoping for since 2016! And we are growing. We are at the bigger of the two convention centers in Boston. We are going to surpass the total number of people that we had last year and I have every expectation that we’ll see significant growth year over year. As far as other things that are that are new and interesting this year… I said this last year, but it’s worth adding it again—the science is always different. It is very consistent that we will have great science every year, and it is a wonderfully fun question mark of what exactly that science is going to look like. It’s always exciting because the science is always different year after year. So, by its very nature, it will be an exciting new conference this year. Also, we’ll have a puppy park in the exhibit hall, so that’s really fun! LeMieux: What are some things that will be highlighted at the meeting that ASGCT has been working on over the past year? Barrett: ASGCT has done a lot this year. There is a lot that we have been very vocal about so far, and there is a lot that we’ll be sharing during the annual meeting. Number one is that we partnered with Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator (OTXL) to found CGTxchange—the first and only clearing house and marketplace of its kind for cell and gene therapy assets. It is being built as we speak and we’ll have some exciting announcements during the annual meeting about assets that will hopefully be in the CGTxchange by that point. It is the culmination of a lot of work on what to do about commercially pre-viable (not non-viable) cell and gene therapies and the work that we’re doing to make those more commercially possible. Also, ASGCT is hosting its Momentum Gala—the first formal gala at our annual meeting. That event has resonated really well with sponsors and donors. In fact, it is sold out! That event is going to be used to celebrate the launch of ASGCT Foundation, which is a separately incorporated 501C3 charitable foundation to support ASGCT’s mission to advance early career researchers and enable the development of cell and gene therapies. Also at the gala, we’ll be announcing some new initiatives to support patient access and reduce barriers to diagnosis, clinical trial participation, and treatment with cell and gene therapies. Another major thing that’s going on is a considerable expansion of our educational activities. We recently launched a new e-learning tool and platform—the ASGCT Learning Center—a really fun project that we’ve been working on to expand how we we are getting new content to our new and expanding audiences. We recognize that we have a really broad audience at ASGCT that is made up of cell and gene therapy basic science researchers, translational researchers, physician scientists and others in the ecosystem of drug development and administration for cell and gene therapies. And we’re looking at new ways to provide content that can help satisfy the learning needs of that really broad audience. The learning center is a big tool in our quiver to be able to do that. LeMieux: What do you hope people take away from the meeting? Barrett: I hope they take away a couple of things… number one, I hope they take knowledge, education, and awareness of what’s going on in the space and what has been happening over the course of the last 12 months. I hope that they take that back to their individual place of work. And I hope that, generally speaking, we fulfill our mission by expanding that knowledge base among all of the stakeholders in cell and gene therapy. Another thing that I hope people take away from this is that, after a lot of ups and downs and undulations in this field over the course of the past two to three years, that there is an extraordinary sense of excitement about the next phases in the development of cell and gene therapy drugs. We have some really exciting new regulatory pathways. We have a lot of development of personalized gene editing technologies and techniques that can bring gene therapies much more quickly and effectively to patients who need them. We have seen significant advancements in more traditional or classic AAV gene therapies that are allowing these to be safer and more efficacious. And we’re seeing an expansion of cell-based gene therapies through an ever-expanding portfolio of indications that are reached by CAR Ts, primarily in cancer, but in an expanding outlook for the use of CAR Ts outside of cancer as well. So, I am hopeful that attendees come away with a renewed energy and vigor for the development of satellite gene therapies. LeMieux: Is there anything specific planned at the meeting to touch on the concerns of the challenges that the scientific community is facing right now—with funding or other barriers? Barrett: We are very excited to have Katherine Szarama, PhD—who was recently named acting director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)—participating in a fireside chat, addressing regulatory uncertainties. [Szarama replaced Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, on May 1st.] We have two other fireside chats focused on regulation, as well. The three fireside chats will offer attendees an opportunity to learn a little more, ask some questions, and hear from some of the individuals in those sessions specifically. But I think that people will also see, more broadly, the ongoing work that ASGCT is doing to continue to create a partnership and a positive working relationship with the FDA to support those regulatory concerns. LeMieux: What are you most looking forward to? Barrett: I think I said this last year, but it really is one of my favorite components of the annual meeting. Every year, I look forward to taking some time to watch the exhibit hall being built. When the rope drops and people enter the exhibit hall for that very first reception, the hall is in pristine condition. And one of my favorite parts is watching it get to that pristine condition because it is just so exciting to see everything being built and come to a head, to have the whole field enter all at one space, and to be able to see an industry live and in person. Because so much of what we do is at our computer screens—and what we read about, hear about, or listen to people talk about. But when you actually see the field of gene and cell therapy on display, it is really exciting and satisfying. Lastly, I will add that I’m looking forward to eating too much…