Across 153 CTIS Phase I or Phase I-containing cell therapy trials, activity is concentrated in a small group of recurring academic hospitals and national cancer, haematology, immunology, and paediatric specialty networks.
The top 10 site networks account for 149 of 622 site participations. This shows that early-phase cell therapy capacity is concentrated in a relatively small group of hospitals with repeated exposure to advanced therapy logistics.
AP-HP, Vall d’Hebron, Charité, Erlangen, Bambino Gesù, and Hospital Clínic de Barcelona stand out because they combine disease-specialist investigators, early-phase trial units, haematology/oncology infrastructure, and access to complex referral populations.
Interpretation: Sponsors looking for fast Phase I cell therapy execution should treat these centres as strategic starting points, especially when the protocol requires leukapheresis, cell handling, inpatient monitoring, paediatric access, or intensive safety surveillance.
Germany and Spain form the strongest operational corridor in the dataset. Their leadership reflects broad academic-hospital coverage plus repeated activity in oncology, haematology, immunology, and paediatric advanced-therapy studies.
Italy’s contribution is more concentrated around specialist paediatric and cell therapy centres, while France shows a networked model led by AP-HP, oncology institutes, and CHU systems. The Netherlands has a smaller but focused specialist footprint.
Interpretation: Country leadership reflects infrastructure depth, not only population size. The strongest countries combine early-phase investigators, cell-processing experience, paediatric specialty centres, and established oncology/haematology referral networks.
Oncology activity is dominated by haematologic malignancies, especially B-cell diseases and acute leukaemias. This pattern reflects the maturity of CAR-T and immune-cell therapy development in lymphoma, ALL, AML, and related blood cancers.
Solid tumours are present but more fragmented, often depending on selected high-capability early-phase oncology units. Paediatric CNS tumours and neuroblastoma are especially dependent on specialist paediatric oncology centres.
Interpretation: Europe’s Phase I cell therapy base is still anchored in blood cancers. Solid tumour cell therapy is expanding, but it remains less standardized and more dependent on a smaller number of advanced early-phase oncology centres.
While oncology and haematology remain the core of Phase I cell therapy activity, the dataset also shows activity in immunology, neurology, dermatology, cardiology, infectious disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and rare disease.
Lymphoma, leukaemia, myeloma, paediatric CNS tumours, neuroblastoma, and selected solid tumours.
Lupus, systemic sclerosis, inflammatory myopathy, Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and transplant rejection.
Wounds, cartilage defects, ischemic disease, spinal cord injury, epilepsy, skin disorders, and rare paediatric diseases.
Phase I cell therapy capacity in Europe is clustered around a few high-recurrence academic centres. Germany, Spain, France, and Italy form the strongest operational corridor. Oncology and haematology remain the most mature use cases, but the trial mix is expanding into immunology, neurology, dermatology, cardiology, infectious disease, and rare disease. For sponsors, the practical implication is clear: site selection should prioritize proven advanced-therapy execution capacity, not only disease prevalence or country size.