Reshaping Vision and Leading the New Paradigm of Ophthalmic Treatment: The 2025 Symposium on Clinical Transformation of Ophthalmic CGT Was Successfully Held
On March 22, 2025, the “Reshaping Vision – Leading the New Paradigm of Ophthalmic Medicine” 2025 Symposium on Clinical Translation of Ophthalmic Cell and Gene Therapy, co – hosted by the Shanghai General Hospital – National Clinical Medical Research Center for Eye Diseases and Tongeye Medical Technology (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., co – organized by Guoke Xinyan International Technology Transfer Co., Ltd. and supported by the Shanghai Zhongke Life Science Innovation and Development Foundation, was successfully held at the Shanghai General Hospital. The event attracted more than 60 guests from the medical, industrial and investment circles.
At the beginning of the conference, Sun Xiaodong, the vice – president of the Shanghai General Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, delivered an opening speech on behalf of the ophthalmology department of the hospital, extending a warm welcome to the guests present.
Sun Xiaodong, Vice – President of Shanghai General Hospital and Director of Ophthalmology Center
President Sun Xiaodong delivered a keynote speech on the theme of “Challenges in the Clinical Transformation of Gene Therapy for Retinal Diseases”. Connecting with multiple issues faced in the transformation of gene therapy for retinal diseases from laboratory experiments to clinical applications at present, President Sun Xiaodong pointed out that diversified methods of evaluating therapeutic effects are crucial for the smooth realization of such transformation. He emphasized the driving role of clinical needs in industrial transformation and summarized the valuable experience that “clinical needs drive industrial transformation, and industrial transformation, in turn, requires clinical needs even more”.
Sun Xiaodong, Vice – President of Shanghai General Hospital and Director of Ophthalmology Center
Professor Xu Guotong gave a keynote speech entitled “From Basic Research to Clinical Translation – The Breakthrough Path of Ophthalmic Cell Therapy”. Starting from an introduction to the eye and stem cells, Professor Xu Guotong gradually deepened the discussion to the specific cell therapy for eye diseases. He introduced to the guests the principles and progress of stem cell therapy for corneal diseases, glaucoma, cataract and retinal degeneration, and pointed out the challenges faced by stem cell therapy and the areas where breakthroughs may be made in the future.
Xu Guotong, Distinguished Professor of Tongji University, Founder and Chief Scientist of Tongeye
Subsequently, Zhu Xinxing from Huagai Capital moderated a round – table discussion entitled “Bridging the Gap – The Realistic Challenges in the Clinical Translation of Ophthalmic Gene and Cell Therapy”. President Sun Xiaodong, Professor Xu Guotong, Zhuo Fumin, the founder and chairman of Yuanxing Capital, Tong Yanhui, the secretary – general of the Shanghai Zhongke Life Science Innovation and Development Foundation, and Ni Zhuoyu, the SVP of Langxin Biotech, participated in the discussion. Experts from various fields put forward their opinions on this “gap”, including scientific understanding, the collaboration of all parties involved in the transformation chain, the patience of capital, professional and responsible clinical PIs, the gap between knowing and doing, “pioneering capital”, policy support, and the relationship between pre – clinical research and clinical data.
Round – table discussion, from left to right: Sun Xiaodong, Zhuo Fumin, Zhu Xinxing, Xu Guotong, Tong Yanhui, Ni Zhuoyu
The afternoon’s agenda mainly focused on the development of the CGT industry.
Wei Junjing, the vice – chairman and secretary – general of the Shanghai Food and Drug Safety Research Association, gave a keynote speech on the “Regulatory Policies and Trends of Cell Therapy Products”. President Wei mainly introduced the dual – track management path of CGT in China and a series of regulations on IIT and the research, development, registration and marketing of cell therapy drugs, and answered the questions about the charging of cell therapy drugs that the guests were concerned about.
Wei Junjing, Vice – Chairman and Secretary – General of Shanghai Food and Drug Safety Research AssociationDr. Jiang Mei, an associate researcher in the ophthalmology department of the Shanghai General Hospital, introduced the basic situation, advantages and operation mode of the GMP workshop of the Shanghai General Hospital, and extended a sincere invitation to the enterprises that have the intention to cooperate in the fields of CMC, IIT and clinical trials.
Jiang Mei, Associate Researcher in Ophthalmology Department of Shanghai General Hospital
Dr. Li Peng, the senior director of CMC of Jishitongguang, gave a keynote speech on the “Preparation, Quality Control and Regulatory Requirements of Ophthalmic Cell Drugs”. He mainly introduced the characteristics of ophthalmic cell drugs, such as small production batch, difficult preparation and long process, and shared the specific details in the processes of production, culture, quality control, inspection and transportation of ophthalmic cell drugs.
Li Peng, Senior Director of CMC of Tongeye
After the keynote speeches, the guests visited the National Clinical Medical Research Center for Eye Diseases & GMP Center under the guidance of Researcher Jiang Mei.
In the internal roadshow session of the enterprise, Professor Xu Guotong, the founder of Tongeye, comprehensively and systematically introduced the basic situation, R & D progress, business model and financing needs of Tongeye, enabling the guests to have a clearer understanding of the market demand, technical route and characteristic advantages of the main products and pipelines of Tongeye. At the same time, he also focused on introducing a series of funds and project support obtained by Tongeye since its establishment, as well as the great breakthrough made by Tongeye in the technology of inducing iPS cells to differentiate into immature RPE cells.
Xu Guotong, Distinguished Professor of Tongji University, Founder and Chief Scientist of Tongeye
The last round – table roadshow session of the event focused on the theme of “The Investment Logic and Transformation Closed – loop Construction of Ophthalmic Cell and Gene Therapy”. Dr. Yang Shu, the COO of Tongeye, moderated the session. Researcher Jiang Mei, Secretary – General Wei Junjing, Liang Yijian, the investment director of Shiyao Group, Liu Xiaohua, the managing director of Fujian Capital, Gu Yang, the partner of Han Kun Law Offices, and Zhang Jundong, the general manager of Likangrui Biotech, participated in the discussion. The wonderful viewpoints covered the regulatory differences between China and the United States on GMP sites (the United States pays more attention to the qualifications of people and the scientific nature of data, while in China, compliance is the prerequisite), CGT R & D enterprises focus on their own competitive positions and cost control, the ecological environment of commercial medical insurance in China is improving, and the safety data of IIT trials are also crucial.
Round – table discussion, from left to right: Jiang Mei, Wei Junjing, Liang Yijian, Yang Shu, Liu Xiaohua, Gu Yang, Zhang Jundong
With the joint efforts of the Shanghai General Hospital – National Clinical Medical Research Center for Eye Diseases, Tongeye Medical Technology (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., Guoke Xinyan International Technology Transfer Co., Ltd. and the Shanghai Zhongke Life Science Innovation and Development Foundation, this event has built an in – depth and friendly communication platform for the CGT industry, and provided many insightful solutions to the challenges faced in the clinical translation of ophthalmic cell and gene therapy.
