Talk the talk
On Wednesday, September 16, 2020, we organized a stakeholder meeting on cell and gene therapies in the Netherlands on behalf of five pharmaceutical companies involved in the development of cell and gene therapies, the interest group HollandBIO and the University of Groningen. The day consisted of a plenary opening followed by three different workshops. The day ended with a House of Commons debate in which the input from the workshops was discussed in plenary on the basis of five propositions. An important aspect of the House of Commons debate was that the stakeholders present were also able to put their own views on the table.
Gaining new insights
Over 60 participants and 30 digital visitors gathered that day at the Louwman Museum in The Hague. The wide range of stakeholders discussed perspectives for action on topics such as clinical research, regulations, reimbursement and implementation in healthcare. The stakeholders included representatives from academic hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, patient associations, universities, biotech companies, medical specialists and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
This meeting gave the stakeholders a better understanding of the positions and roles of the other stakeholders. Both substantively and conceptually, the stakeholders gained insight into the bottlenecks and especially the action perspectives to properly prepare the Netherlands for this innovative form of medicine.