Crowdfunding for cellular and gene therapy products

Cellular and gene therapy products provide hope to people experiencing debilitating diseases. Many people seek to access these products ahead of regulatory approval through clinical trials, exceptional access programs, and direct to consumer purchases. Even when regulatory approval has been given, these products can cost millions of dollars in direct and indirect expenses. This study examines how crowdfunding campaigns are being used to pay for United States Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved cellular and gene therapy products.

The author searched the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform for 43 FDA-approved cellular and gene therapy products. The campaign title, campaign text, funding requested, funding pledged, number of donations, campaign start date, and campaign location was collected for each campaign. Total 529 campaigns were identified and 322 included for content analysis as seeking funding to pay for the direct or indirect costs of accessing FDA-approved cellular or gene therapy products.

Crowdfunding campaigns for 17 FDA-approved cellular and gene therapy products were identified. Total 322 campaigns raised $8,997,107.19 (median $3675.04) from 154,230 (72.5) donations out of $334,723,452.76 ($184,250) requested. Two campaigns raised 39.2% of all funds and 10 raised 64.8% of all funds. Fundraising goals ranged from $1.11-$12,000,000. The 4^th and 5^th largest quintiles of fundraising requests were over $1,200,000.

The median fundraising goal and funding received were larger than has been found in other studies of medical crowdfunding. Differences in fundraising goals and donations suggest inequities in insurance coverage and the ability to access cellular and gene therapy products.