In my recent conversations with cell and gene therapy (CGT) professionals, one topic kept making the list of concerns, manpower.
During the early phase of start up establishment, the attention is mainly paid to regulatory and technical details that the manpower issue is grossly overlooked.
Manpower in CGT is mistakenly being limited (by many professionals) to roles of technical nature, such as clinical production, and this view further reduces the attention to CGT manpower which is comprised of 3 main categories: production team, quality assurance, and facility operation.
By correcting the view of what CGT manpower actually is, two points immediately come into focus, (1) that CGT manpower is so diverse, and therefore, (2) should be carefully planned because it is time consuming.
Given the volume of CGT development projects that cross our office, it is clear to me that we are headed to a CGT manpower shortage that will create a bottleneck for development. If we get to that point, it would mean we are late to CGT manpower development. But it would also mean that CGT development in our region is in full swing, something worth celebrating.
About the author
Naseem Almezel, earned his MSc degree in Cellular Therapies in 2010, since then his career focus is to support Bone Marrow Transplant and Oncology programs. Naseem likes to work in the lab doing translational research, or in the cleanroom doing GMP production. When he is not working, Naseem likes to read and to spend time outdoors. Find more about Naseem here
