Kansas City Business Journal: Children's Mercy partners with NY company to improve access to cell and gene therapies
By Friday Humphreville
Children’s Mercy is collaborating with New York-based Basepath Health to expand its cell and gene program, which will allow patients faster access to the FDA-regulated therapies.
The collaboration will accelerate the hospital’s process of getting approved as a site for cell and gene therapies and help doctors faster identify qualified patients, said Brian O’Neal, vice president of Allied Health at Children’s Mercy.
It will add eight to 10 cell-and-gene specific jobs at Children’s Mercy in the next three years and bolster research on the treatment.
“As soon as it’s FDA-approved, patients know, and they want access,” O’Neal said. “You don’t want to tell them, 'You have to wait for a year and a half, and then we’ll get you in here.'"
Cell and gene therapy treatments target rare genetic disorders, aggressive cancers and other complex diseases. They aim to halt or reverse disease progression, often with a single treatment, according to a release from Children's Mercy.
Read the full article via The Kansas City Business Journal