Cell and Gene Therapy Conference 2026
Engineering Consistency. Scaling Innovation. Advancing Cell & Gene Therapies.
8–9 December 2026 | London, United Kingdom
The Cell and Gene Therapy Conference 2026 brings together experts across cell sourcing, manufacturing, process development, analytics, scale-up, technology transfer, supply chain strategy, and market access. Designed for professionals working across the cell and gene therapy (CGT) value chain, the two-day programme focuses on practical challenges that can determine whether promising therapies progress efficiently from development into reliable clinical and commercial production.
A central theme of the conference is consistency. For cell therapies, variability can begin with the starting material and continue throughout expansion, manufacturing, storage, and administration. The opening sessions therefore examine how organisations can improve the quality and reproducibility of starting cells through better sourcing, isolation, characterisation, and control strategies. Attendees will gain practical perspectives on identifying sources of biological variability, defining critical quality attributes, and translating variability into measurable manufacturing controls. The benefit is a stronger foundation for more predictable downstream processes and more consistent therapeutic products.
The Cell Expansion & Manufacturing Scale-Up programme then addresses one of the industry's most significant challenges: scaling living cells without compromising their biological characteristics. Sessions will help attendees understand how changes in cell density, oxygen transfer, nutrients, shear, process conditions, and equipment can influence cell growth, phenotype, viability, and potency. By examining the transition from flask-based development to larger manufacturing platforms, the programme provides insights into designing expansion processes that are scalable, reproducible, and capable of supporting clinical and commercial demand.
Importantly, the programme moves beyond simply increasing cell numbers. Sessions on cellular fitness, potency, exhaustion, differentiation, senescence, and functional decline highlight the importance of maintaining cell quality and biological function throughout the product lifecycle. Attendees can benefit from strategies for monitoring functional attributes and developing potency approaches that more meaningfully reflect therapeutic activity. This can support better release decisions, reduce uncertainty between manufacturing and clinical performance, and strengthen overall product control.
The second day shifts to gene therapy process development and manufacturing, beginning with integrated approaches that connect process development, analytical development, and manufacturing strategy from an early stage. The benefit of this integrated perspective is the potential to identify manufacturing risks earlier, reduce development inefficiencies, improve process understanding, and establish scalable platforms capable of supporting future clinical and commercial requirements.
Sessions focused on viral vector and AAV manufacturing address practical issues around yield, quality, productivity, process consistency, and scale-up. Attendees will gain insights into upstream and downstream optimisation, critical process parameters, analytical characterisation, purification, recovery, and process robustness. These discussions are particularly relevant to organisations seeking to improve manufacturing efficiency while maintaining product quality as production moves between development, clinical, and commercial scales.
The programme also tackles the increasingly important transition from development to commercial manufacturing. Sessions on process changes, comparability, technology transfer, validation, and manufacturing readiness will help organisations anticipate challenges before they become costly delays. The technology-transfer discussion is particularly valuable for developers working with CDMOs or moving processes between facilities, as it addresses knowledge transfer, documentation, analytical methods, equipment differences, governance, and responsibilities.
Another practical focus is analytical development and characterisation. As CGT products become increasingly complex, reliable analytical methods are essential for demonstrating identity, purity, potency, safety, and consistency. Attendees will gain perspectives on developing analytical strategies that generate meaningful data throughout development, transfer, and commercial manufacturing.
The conference also recognises that manufacturing performance depends on more than the production process itself. Sessions on supply-chain strategy examine critical raw materials, plasmids, reagents, single-use technologies, supplier qualification, forecasting, inventory, and continuity planning. These insights can help organisations identify supply risks earlier and build more resilient manufacturing operations.
The conference concludes by addressing market access, value-based pricing, and real-world evidence. Sessions will explore how long-term outcomes and RWE can support payer discussions, reimbursement strategies, and value communication. Attendees will gain perspectives on stakeholder engagement, outcome-based agreements, indication-based pricing, and the practical challenges of demonstrating value for high-cost, potentially long-lasting therapies.
Overall, the Cell and Gene Therapy Conference 2026 offers a connected view of the CGT lifecycle, from starting-cell quality and manufacturing scale-up to analytical control, commercial readiness, supply-chain resilience, reimbursement, and patient access. Its key benefit is the opportunity for professionals to identify practical approaches that can improve process robustness, reduce manufacturing risk, strengthen product quality, accelerate development, and support the successful transition of cell and gene therapies toward sustainable clinical and commercial delivery.