Specialists of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine took part in the annual international conference on cell and gene therapy Advanced Therapies Week 2026, held in San Diego (USA).
The event brought together more than 2000 leading experts from around the world to seek solutions in the development, manufacturing, regulatory issues and patient access to innovative treatment technologies that are already shaping the medicine of the future.
The Center's delegation included Deputy Director for Registration, Pharmacovigilance and Audit Olena Semenchenko, Director of the Department of Health Technology Assessment Oresta Piniazhko and an expert of the Department of Expert Evaluation of Registration Materials Olha Kolesova.
During the conference, our representatives took part in plenary sessions, thematic seminars, panel discussions, round tables and networking programmes. They also joined the investment summit on advanced therapies and the thematic congress "Women in Advanced Therapies".
The focus was on trends in the development of modern biotechnologies, clinical trial design, manufacturing and bioengineering, regulatory challenges, ensuring pathways for bringing medicinal products to market, expanding patient access to CAR-T therapy, and technology transfer.
The focus of the Ukrainian team was aimed at studying international practices in the field of clinical trials of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), expert evaluation of innovative medicinal products, and the use of the health technology assessment (HTA) tool for such technologies. This matters for Ukraine, which only recently, since 2024 , began clinical trials of advanced therapy medicinal products, opening a new stage in the development of regulatory practice.
As part of the visit, the Center's team also visited the University of California, San Diego, where it became acquainted with the implementation of programs for the commercialization of innovations and the development of entrepreneurship.
The experience gained is of strategic importance for further research and expanding access of Ukrainian patients to modern treatment using cell and gene therapy medicinal products, and for introducing innovations into clinical practice.
