Pharmacy's Rising Role in Cell and Gene Therapy: Zahra Mamoudjafari, PharmD, MBA

Why It Matters

Without coordinated financial and operational strategies, institutions risk delayed treatments, lost revenue, and reduced patient access to life‑saving CGTs. The insights guide hospitals to build resilient programs that can scale with the growing therapy pipeline.

Key Takeaways

• Eight domains needed for sustainable cell and gene therapy programs
• Financial strategy and reimbursement often cause treatment delays
• Pharmacy now central across oncology and gene therapy workflows
• Proactive infrastructure beats reactive, approval‑after‑build approach

Pulse Analysis

The surge in cell and gene therapy approvals is reshaping oncology and rare‑disease treatment landscapes, but hospitals are scrambling to match clinical breakthroughs with operational capacity. Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, MBA, leverages a decade of experience to propose an eight‑domain framework that aligns financial planning, clinical workflows, regulatory compliance, and long‑term patient monitoring. By treating these domains as interdependent, health‑care systems can avoid the costly pitfalls of reactive program builds that typically follow a product’s market entry.

Financial strategy sits at the core of the framework, as reimbursement delays can cascade into treatment postponements, manufacturing schedule disruptions, and even patient ineligibility when disease progresses. Prior‑authorization bottlenecks not only strain administrative resources but also jeopardize outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory conditions. Institutions that embed robust payer engagement, transparent cost modeling, and contingency funding into their CGT pathways are better positioned to secure timely access and protect revenue streams.

Pharmacy’s role is evolving from a transplant‑centric function to a cross‑departmental hub that orchestrates drug handling, dosing, and patient education across diverse CGT indications. This expanded reach amplifies the need for proactive infrastructure—integrated electronic health records, specialized compounding facilities, and coordinated care teams—rather than ad‑hoc setups triggered by individual approvals. As larger‑population therapies enter the pipeline, the framework’s emphasis on sustainable, scalable systems will become a competitive differentiator for health‑care providers seeking to deliver cutting‑edge treatments responsibly.