PCT Celebrates 20 Years of ISCT

2012 marks the 20^th anniversary of the formation of the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT). ISCT was first conceived by a handful of pioneers at a scientific conference in 1991, formalized as the International Society for Hematotherapy & Graft Engineering (ISHAGE) in 1992, and changed its name to ISCT which has emerged as the leading international organization representing cell therapies.

The core focus of the organization in its early days was to share technical information, establish best practices, and bring a level of standardization to bone marrow purging and processing in support of what was the only true cell therapy that existed at the time: bone marrow stem cell transplantation.

Robert A. Preti, Co-founder and President of Progenitor Cell Therapy (PCT), was instrumental in ISCT’s formation and early leadership. NeoStem’s Chief Medical Officer and Director, Andrew L. Pecora, was also an ISCT founding member. The organization’s leadership has since expanded to include other NeoStem/PCT team members, including Timothy C. Fong and Sanjin Zvonic, both active members of ISCT’s Commercialization Committee.

While many members of the early leadership ranks were based at academic institutions, leadership from industry was welcomed and was integral to what made ISCT successful right from the beginning. Other examples of industry-based leaders in those early days included Allen C. Eaves, founder, owner and President of STEMCELL Technologies, Terry Thomas of STEMCELL Technologies and Alan Hardwick, then of Baxter Biotech.

The cell therapy sector is now represented by a plethora of organizations encompassing an alphabet of acronyms, from AABB to TERMIS and all letters in between. Nevertheless, ISCT remains at the very core of the sector and spans its challenges from technical to clinical, scientific to regulatory, and financial to commercial.

We are proud to continue to be members of, leaders in, and commercial supporters of ISCT, both as a vibrant part of its mission year-round and each year at its annual meeting.

We encourage you to attend this year’s ISCT annual meeting in Seattle, June 5-8. We hope we’ll see you there. Please contact us to schedule a personal meeting with PCT.