The Alliance for Health Policy Releases New Reports to Guide Policymaker Education on Cell and Gene Therapy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 3, 2026

The Alliance for Health Policy Releases New Reports to Guide Policymaker Education on Cell and Gene Therapy

– Insights report captures diverse perspectives from experts and stakeholders to inform expert workshopping and educational design

– Seminar report reflects recommendations from nearly 45 experts and stakeholders identifying priority education gaps for policymakers

Washington, D.C. — The Alliance for Health Policy today released two companion reports from its recent Signature Seminar on Cell and Gene Therapy, a rapidly evolving area of health policy with significant implications for patients, payers, providers, and policymakers. The reports reflect outputs from a two-part program that combined in-depth stakeholder listening with expert-led workshops held in December 2025.

The reports include:

• Insights Report: Informed by in-depth interviews including 17 scientific, market, regulatory, legislative, reimbursement, patient advocate, and policy perspectives, conducted to surface key challenges, opportunities, and emerging questions shaping cell and gene therapy policy. The themes surfaced also informed the design of the Signature Seminar workshops. Alliance Insights Reports use the “Iceberg Model” to analyze areas that are immediately visible, those that represent multi-year trends, systems-level issues, and fundamental questions.
• Seminar Report: A step-by-step review of two expert workshops convening approximately 45 thought leaders from across the health policy ecosystem to identify educational priorities and specific recommendations for future policymaker education, along with a co-created timeline showing the progress of cell therapy, gene therapy, and relevant policy.

“One area where experts were in universal agreement is that cell and gene therapies hold transformative potential. At the same time, our insights report shows widespread agreement that existing policy systems for approval, payment, and monitoring did not foresee these products,” said Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO of the Alliance for Health Policy. “Across stakeholders, we heard that current systems are better optimized for ameliorative, large-population therapies where costs are spread over time, and are poorly equipped to handle some of the curative and near-curative therapies, where populations are often smaller and costs are mostly upfront. By starting with deep listening and then convening experts across sectors, these reports help the Alliance provide a more holistic view of the challenges facing policymakers, rather than reflecting a single stakeholder point of view.”

The Insights Report draws on in-depth interviews with stakeholders representing medical research and development, policy, patient advocate, market and government perspectives. Interviewees highlighted the tension between scientific innovation and system readiness, underscoring issues such as affordability and sustainability, novel evidentiary standards, manufacturing and delivery constraints, and the challenge of aligning payment and coverage approaches with one-time or curative therapies. These insights helped shape the focus and structure of the December workshops, ensuring discussions reflected real-world, in-depth complexity instead of just isolated “hot topics.”

The Seminar Report summarizes findings from the two facilitated workshops that brought together experts from across the cell and gene therapy landscape. Participants worked collaboratively to articulate what policymakers most need to understand about this evolving field, including the scientific and regulatory foundations of cell and gene therapies, international market dynamics, changing roles of patients, manufacturers, and providers, patient access considerations, and long-term system needs. Workshop outputs emphasized the importance of historical context, plain language, and highlighting individual impact to help congressional staff navigate policymaking with greater confidence.

Together, the reports represent the “Incubate” phase of the Alliance’s two-step “Incubate to Educate” program lifecycle. During this phase, the Alliance activates its structured listening with its unparalleled network of domestic health policy experts. Through interviews and workshops, the Alliance is able to raise these important voices by publishing their insights and recommendations on policy topics of import, identifying educational gaps, and producing resources that inform future programming. The findings from the Signature Seminar on Cell and Gene Therapy will directly inform the Alliance’s next phase of educational offerings for congressional staff and the broader health policy community (the “Educate” phase).

The Alliance now seeks partners to continue developing timely, expert-driven educational programming on cell and gene therapy, building on the insights and recommendations surfaced through this Signature Seminar. Connect with us about partnering or sponsoring future educational programming.

View the insights report:

View the seminar report:

About the Alliance for Health Policy

The Alliance for Health Policy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping policymakers and the public better understand health policy, the root of the nation’s health care issues, and the trade-offs posed by various proposals for change. We believe a better health care system begins with a balanced exchange of evidence, experience, and multiple perspectives.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Carolyn Sobczyk
Communications Consultant
csobczyk@allhealthpolicy.org

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Kelly Appenzeller
Director of Production and Development
kappenzeller@allhealthpolicy.org