The Cure Circle - Episode 5
Rebuilding the Future of India’s Cell & Gene Therapy
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About this Podcast:
An in-depth conversation on cell and gene therapy in India, exploring what it takes to move advanced therapies from scientific innovation to patient care. This episode examines the companies, capital, talent, manufacturing, regulation, and reimbursement systems needed to build a sustainable CAR-T therapy ecosystem.
About the guest:
Dr. Arun Anand is a physician, cell and gene therapy business leader, and currently serves as a nominated expert on the Precision Biotherapeutics Committee, Department of Biotechnology (DBT/BIRAC), Government of India. With more than two decades of experience, Dr. Arun brings a rare blend of experience across clinical development, biologics, biosimilars, biotech strategy and advanced therapies.
As the former COO and Board Director of Immuneel Therapeutics, he helped build and commercialise cell and gene therapy programmes in India. He now advises biotech companies, investors, incubators and pharmaceutical organisations on drug development, regulatory strategy, business planning, and financing.
Episode overview:
In Episode 5 of The Cure Circle, Dr Arun Anand discusses what India needs to build a sustainable cell and gene therapy ecosystem. A conversation about CAR-T quickly becomes a larger question about what happens around the science: who builds it, who funds it, how it is regulated, where it is manufactured, and ultimately, who can afford it.
This episode asks a question that sits at the heart of the conversation:
If the science is here, what is missing?
The answer is not just one missing technology or one regulatory approval. It is the system around the therapy. India needs more specialised talent, stronger academic-industry collaboration, better manufacturing infrastructure, regulatory pathways that understand advanced therapies, and reimbursement models that make innovation sustainable.
Cost also becomes one of the hardest questions. CAR-T therapies may be far less expensive compared to the US, but a treatment still costs tens of lakhs, which can remain out of reach for many patients. Dr. Arun points out that affordability cannot sit entirely with the developer, and the value of the therapies has to be recognised through a combination of industry, insurance, government and other funding mechanisms
The conversation also looks at China vs India in cell and gene therapy. China has built a 15-year strategy, focusing on long-term investment in talent, research, regulation and biotech infrastructure. Dr. Arun believes India can build something similar but will require a long-term commitment and a way to bring talent back into the country.
The conversation is all about one question: What would it take for India to build cell and gene therapies that are both globally competitive and affordable to patients?
In this episode, Dr. Arun and Dr. Smita discuss:
- From Medicine to Biotech: Dr. Arun’s transition from clinical medicine to biotech and his journey into building cell and gene therapy programmes in India.
- Building Immuneel Inside a Hospital: What it took to build an integrated CGT ecosystem and bring CAR-T therapy from development to patients.
- The Economics of Cell Therapy: Why focusing on cost alone can undermine the long-term sustainability of advanced therapies.
- Shared Responsibility for Affordability: Why developers, insurers, government and other funding mechanisms all have a role in making curative therapies accessible.
- What India Can Learn from China: How 15 years of investment in talent, research, regulation, infrastructure and industry helped build China’s biotech ecosystem.
- The Danger of Regulatory Dilution: Why India must maintain global standards while developing faster pathways for advanced therapies.
- Building the CGT Value Chain: The need for more developers, capital, specialised talent, manufacturing capacity, domestic supply chains and clinical research infrastructure.
- Evolving Regulatory Pathways: How regulatory review, joint inspections, digitisation and scientific engagement can support the development of advanced therapies.
- Mechanistic Biology Over Copycat Science: Why India needs to invest in fundamental biology and mechanistic research to develop genuinely innovative therapies.
- Making India for the World: Why India should aim to build globally relevant therapies while keeping affordability and accessibility at the centre.