4th Cell Therapy Conference
Manufacturing and Testing of Pluripotent Stem Cells

Organized by
The International Alliance for Biological Standardization – IABS
with support from and in collaboration with the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine – CIRM


Los Angeles, California
June 5-6, 2018

Read the Meeting Report

Objectives and Expected Outcomes

The 2018 Cell Therapy conference will identify key unresolved issues that need to be addressed for the manufacture and testing of pluripotent stem cell-based therapies and provide scientific consensus on selected aspects to inform the drafting of future national and international guidance. The meeting will bring together representatives from industry, academia, health services and regulatory bodies.

The overall goal of the conference is to provide the target audience with an appreciation of the importance of a well-controlled manufacturing process for cell therapies that are in development, and to highlight specific areas that should be considered during early product development in order to avoid issues in later stages. The target audience includes those individuals and organizations actively pursuing research and development of cell therapies with the intent of achieving pluripotent stem cell therapy products that meets regulatory requirements for approval, thus becoming generally available to treat patients with unmet medical needs. 

We will build on previous meetings that generally addressed broader themes of cell therapy studies and manufacturing issues. In addition to reviewing information on the state-of-the-art and recently generated data, this conference ill drill down to key practical issues facing cell therapy developers and regulators to expedite the safe and efficient introduction of new treatments for important diseases where unmet medical needs exist.

More specifically, the conference is expected to provide a basis for new and/or additional guidance on regulatory expectations for developing acceptable pluripotent cell therapy products including testing requirements during manufacture. Concrete conclusions and recommendations will be important outcomes, which are expected to stimulate the field to move forward in a transparent and coordinated manner.