Over the past 5 years, gene and cell therapies have gained significant attention in both North America and Europe. These therapies hold tremendous promise, offering potential long-term and possibly permanent cures for previously incurable or untreatable diseases, often with a single dose. However, it’s not without a cost: gene therapies are currently priced in the range of 1-4 million U.S. dollars/euros, which has sparked concerns about affordability and payment responsibility. In the U.S., where many of the recent drug approvals have taken place, reinsurance has been a commonly used solution, but it has its limitations. Payers, drug manufacturers, and government entities both in the U.S. and EU are diligently working to develop improved payment models to address these challenges and ensure access to these live-changing therapies. In this web session, we aim to provide a basic introduction to gene and cell therapies, shedding light on the obstacles that lie ahead in terms of access and affordability and the actuary’s role in helping to develop solutions.

The web session is intended for all interested persons who wish to learn more about these therapies and their impacts from both a population health and stakeholder perspective. A basic understanding of reinsurance and current U.S. medical payment models is helpful, but not required.

Technical Requirements
Please check with your IT department if your firewall and computer settings support web session participation (the programme Zoom will be used for this online training). Please also make sure to join the web session with a stable internet connection.

The objective of this web session is to provide an educational experience by discussing the benefits, challenges, and concerns associated with these therapies. While from a mainly U.S. perspective, we will also address issues relevant to European countries. We will examine current and future treatments and the financial and non-financial issues at play. We will also highlight the important role of actuaries in addressing these issues.

The language of the web session will be English.

Angela K. Garcia, FSA, CERA, MAAA
Angela is a Vice President and Actuary with global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re within their U.S. Life, Accident, and Health business segment based in Portland, Maine. With over 10 years of experience within the health space, she provides client support in the areas of reinsurance structure optimization and decision guidance, risk modeling, and research projects for health plans, MGUs, and other medical clients. Her other main areas of focus include cell & gene therapies and enterprise risk management/ORSA support.