This month, EATRIS joined a panel of ATMP experts to discuss the growing issue of a shortage of skilled works in the Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) field. Moderated by Joaquim Vives, Banc de Sang I Teixits, Spain and Jaap Jan Zwaginga, from Leiden University, Netherlands, EATRIS joined fellow panellists Gloria Carmona Sanchez from the Andalusian Network for the Design and Translation of Advanced Therapies Spain and Qasim Rafiq, from the University College London, United Kingdom.
This topic ,which continues to gain great interest in the field, represents a major challenge as we see more ATMP products reach the clinic which require the right skilled workforce to support their development and administration. The number of roles to fill in ATMP currently far outnumbers the amount of people who are currently working in the sector with recent studies reporting that the required workforce in this sector will double in five years.
Presently large numbers of individuals without previous ATMP experience need to be hired from different sectors with most companies simply “fishing in the same pool”, driving salary inflation and creating hiring mentalities that go against the collaborative spirit on which this industry is based.
To tackle this issue in ATMPs, EATRIS has developed its own online course on cell & gene therapy (ATMP) development to educate young scientists in this field and to try promote ATMPs as an innovative and exciting field to work in that can offer huge therapeutic potential for a wide range of conditions and can enable patients to live without the need for ongoing medication or the burden of daily disease management. Our course, which is free to all, is based on materials developed as part of the ADVANCE project that was supported by Erasmus Plus and currently has over 1000 students from over 50 countries.
This year we will also see 3 in person training courses in 3 different countries based on the ADVANCE approach, which aims to make this innovative field more accessible for the next generation of ATMP developers – i.e. early-career biomedical academics (PhDs, Postdocs), doctors in training, clinician-scientists, and SME-based professionals.
To further address the skills shortage in ATMPs EATRIS will also host a follow up panel discussion with experts across industry and public institutions at the Advanced Therapies congress in Philadelphia on November 12. If you have interest to attend this conference, EATRIS as part of the advisory board has a limited number of free passes which can be shared while available.
The EATRIS ATMP Platform will continue to place addressing the skills gap in the ATMP field at the forefront of our strategic agenda so as community, we can ensure that the right talent is available to meet the needs of this growing industry.
