Cencora Launches Cell and Gene Therapy Enablement Service to Help Health Systems Expand Advanced Therapy Programs
Cencora has launched a new service designed to help health systems evaluate, establish, and scale cell and gene therapy (CGT) programs as the number and complexity of advanced therapies continue to grow. The new offering, Cell and Gene Therapy Enablement, is available through Accelerate Pharmacy Solutions and is intended to help healthcare organizations strengthen operational readiness, improve program execution, and reduce barriers that can prevent patients from accessing potentially transformative treatments.
Cell and gene therapies represent one of the most rapidly developing areas of modern medicine. These therapies have introduced new approaches to treating serious and complex diseases, including conditions for which conventional treatment options may be limited. However, bringing CGTs into routine clinical practice requires healthcare organizations to develop specialized capabilities across numerous areas, including pharmacy operations, clinical workflows, financial planning, reimbursement, patient access, governance, and supply chain coordination.
Cencora’s new service is designed to address these challenges by providing health systems with tailored guidance throughout the process of developing and expanding their CGT capabilities.
Addressing the Growing Complexity of Cell and Gene Therapies
The CGT landscape has expanded significantly in recent years, with more products reaching the market and a growing pipeline of therapies progressing through clinical development. According to the information provided by Cencora, more than 35 cell and gene therapies have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while more than 1,700 clinical trials are underway globally.
The increasing number of therapies is also broadening the range of diseases and patient populations that may eventually benefit from CGT-based treatment approaches. As these therapies move beyond highly specialized or limited-use applications and into indications involving larger patient populations, health systems may face increasing pressure to develop the infrastructure and expertise necessary to deliver them.
Despite the growing importance of these therapies, many healthcare organizations are not yet fully prepared to incorporate them into their clinical and pharmacy operations. Cencora pointed to findings from its recent pharmacy outlook report, which found that only 4% of surveyed health system pharmacy leaders said their organizations were fully prepared to integrate cell and gene therapies.
This gap between the expanding CGT pipeline and health system preparedness highlights the need for strategic planning and operational support. Organizations must understand not only the clinical characteristics of individual therapies but also the financial, logistical, regulatory, and operational requirements associated with administering them.
A Comprehensive Approach to CGT Program Development
Through its new Cell and Gene Therapy Enablement service, Cencora aims to provide health systems with support across three major areas: financial confidence, operational readiness, and scalable growth.
The service is intended to be tailored to the individual needs of each healthcare organization. Some health systems may be evaluating whether to establish a CGT program for the first time, while others may already have programs in place and need assistance expanding their capabilities to accommodate additional therapies, sites, or indications.
Ryan Telford, Vice President of Health System Pharmacy Portfolio Strategy at Accelerate Pharmacy Solutions, Cencora, said the company is building on its existing capabilities to provide health systems with support across the full process of developing and optimizing CGT programs.
According to Telford, successful delivery of cell and gene therapies requires coordinated execution across multiple areas of an organization. These include strategy, finance, clinical operations, pharmacy, and patient access.
The company’s objective is to help health systems navigate these interconnected requirements through services ranging from market landscape assessments and readiness evaluations to governance design, implementation planning, and ongoing optimization.
Financial Confidence and Market Assessment
One of the primary components of the new service focuses on helping health systems understand the financial implications of implementing CGT programs.
Cell and gene therapies can involve complex financial considerations that differ substantially from those associated with traditional pharmaceutical products. Health systems may need to evaluate therapy-specific costs, reimbursement mechanisms, patient volumes, site-of-care considerations, and other financial factors before determining how to structure a program.
Cencora’s CGT Enablement team will provide market assessments that incorporate these considerations. The objective is to give healthcare organizations greater visibility into the financial environment surrounding specific therapies and help them make informed decisions about program development.
Reimbursement dynamics are particularly important because the high complexity and specialized nature of certain CGTs can create unique challenges for healthcare providers. Understanding reimbursement requirements and potential financial exposure can help organizations establish appropriate processes before beginning treatment.
Site-of-care considerations can also influence how a health system structures its CGT program. Depending on the therapy and patient population, organizations may need to determine where treatment can be administered safely and efficiently and what infrastructure is required at those locations.
Improving Operational Readiness
The second major component of the service focuses on operational readiness.
Launching a CGT program can require changes across multiple departments and workflows. Health systems may need to establish new procedures for patient identification, referral, treatment scheduling, product handling, pharmacy operations, clinical coordination, and follow-up care.
Cencora’s team will support organizations through readiness assessments and gap analyses designed to identify areas that may require additional resources or process improvements.
The company will also assist with strategic roadmap development, governance design, and workflow planning. These activities are intended to help health systems establish clear responsibilities and coordinated processes across departments.
By identifying operational gaps before a program is launched or expanded, healthcare organizations may be able to reduce implementation challenges and establish more consistent processes for delivering advanced therapies.
Building Programs for Scalable Growth
The third component of Cencora’s offering focuses on helping health systems establish repeatable operating models that can support long-term growth.
As additional cell and gene therapies become available, organizations may need to adapt their existing infrastructure rather than create entirely new programs for every therapy. A scalable operating model can help health systems coordinate activities across strategy, finance, clinical operations, pharmacy, and patient access while supporting multiple therapeutic programs.
Cencora’s approach is intended to help health systems build systems that can evolve as the CGT market develops. This may include supporting expansion across different therapies, healthcare sites, and disease indications.
Creating repeatable processes could also help organizations improve efficiency as treatment volumes increase. Instead of managing each therapy as a separate operational initiative, health systems can establish common frameworks that can be adapted to individual product requirements.
Leveraging Cencora’s Broader CGT Capabilities
The new CGT Enablement service builds on Cencora’s existing activities in cell and gene therapy. As a provider of specialty pharmaceutical services, the company offers integrated cell and gene therapy solutions across different stages of the product lifecycle.
These capabilities include commercialization support for developers preparing to bring therapies to market, specialty distribution services, and provider solutions designed to facilitate access across different sites of care.
Cencora also brings experience in pharmacy and supply chain services through Accelerate Pharmacy Solutions. The organization combines technology with pharmacy and supply chain expertise to help health systems build, expand, and optimize their pharmacy programs.
The addition of CGT Enablement extends these capabilities into a more strategic health system support model. Rather than focusing only on product distribution or individual operational functions, the new service is designed to help healthcare organizations consider the broader requirements of building sustainable CGT programs.
Collaboration Across Healthcare Stakeholders
Louis Cicchini, Senior Director of Scientific Affairs and Strategic Partnerships for Cencora’s CGT Service Line, emphasized the importance of collaboration in successfully delivering advanced therapies.
According to Cicchini, the clinical potential of cell and gene therapies depends in part on health systems expanding their capabilities in a strategic and sustainable way. He also highlighted the need for collaboration across different areas of the healthcare ecosystem.
Cell and gene therapy delivery frequently involves multiple stakeholders, including therapy developers, healthcare providers, pharmacists, clinical teams, payers, and patients. Effective coordination among these groups can be critical to ensuring that patients can receive treatment when clinically appropriate.
By helping health systems strengthen internal processes and improve coordination across departments, Cencora aims to contribute to a more integrated approach to advanced therapy delivery.
Reducing Barriers to Patient Access
One of the central goals of Cencora’s new offering is to help reduce barriers that can prevent patients from accessing cell and gene therapies.
Although innovative therapies can provide new options for patients with serious diseases, availability of a treatment does not automatically guarantee access. Health systems must have the appropriate clinical expertise, pharmacy infrastructure, financial processes, patient support systems, and operational workflows in place.
Cencora believes that strengthening these capabilities can help healthcare organizations become better prepared to deliver advanced therapies as the market continues to expand.
The company’s integrated approach is intended to benefit multiple participants in the healthcare ecosystem. Health systems can gain support in building sustainable programs, healthcare providers can benefit from more coordinated operational processes, therapy developers can potentially gain broader treatment-site readiness, and patients may experience fewer logistical barriers to accessing appropriate therapies.
Supporting the Future of Advanced Medicine
The launch of Cell and Gene Therapy Enablement comes at a time when the CGT sector is continuing to evolve rapidly. With dozens of approved therapies and a large global clinical development pipeline, healthcare organizations are increasingly being asked to prepare for the next generation of advanced treatments.
For health systems, preparation involves more than simply adding new therapies to a pharmacy formulary. It requires an integrated strategy encompassing clinical care, financial planning, pharmacy operations, governance, patient access, and supply chain management.
Cencora’s new service seeks to address these needs through a structured framework covering financial assessment, operational preparation, and scalable growth.
By combining its existing CGT expertise with the pharmacy and supply chain capabilities of Accelerate Pharmacy Solutions, Cencora aims to help healthcare organizations build the infrastructure required to deliver advanced therapies more efficiently.
As the number of cell and gene therapies continues to increase and their potential applications expand into larger patient populations, the ability of health systems to adapt will become increasingly important. Cencora’s CGT Enablement service is positioned as a resource for organizations seeking to evaluate their current capabilities, identify gaps, develop implementation strategies, and create sustainable models for future growth.
Ultimately, the initiative reflects a broader shift in healthcare toward preparing delivery systems alongside therapeutic innovation. The success of cell and gene therapies will depend not only on scientific breakthroughs and regulatory approvals but also on the ability of healthcare providers to deliver these complex treatments safely, efficiently, and consistently.
Through its new offering, Cencora is seeking to help close that operational gap and support health systems as they prepare for the expanding role of cell and gene therapies in modern medicine.
About Cencora
Cencora is a leading global pharmaceutical solutions organization centered on improving the lives of people and animals around the world. We partner with pharmaceutical innovators across the value chain to facilitate and optimize market access to therapies. Care providers depend on us for the secure, reliable delivery of pharmaceuticals, healthcare products and solutions. Our worldwide team members contribute to positive health outcomes through the power of our purpose: We are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures. Cencora is ranked #10 on the Fortune 500 and #16 on the Global Fortune 500 with more than $300 billion in annual revenue.