Children’s Mercy Expands Cell, Gene Therapy Program with AI Collaboration

Posted May 20, 2025

Children’s Mercy announced its collaboration with an artificial intelligence platform to expand its cell and gene therapy program.

Children’s Mercy will work with Basepath Health, an AI-native operating platform for advanced therapies, to increase its capacity and accelerate the pace at which patients can receive these highly specialized treatments, according to a release. Children’s Mercy also said its goal is to outpace other providers across the Midwest and the nation through this collaboration.

“Children’s Mercy has long been at the forefront of pediatric care, and cell and gene therapies represent the next frontier in what’s possible for kids facing the most complex conditions,” said Alejandro Quiroga, President and CEO of Children’s Mercy, said in the release. “By expanding these highly specialized services, we’re helping families access cutting-edge technology and comprehensive support—right here, close to home. This is how we continue to lead and deliver on our promise to bring the very best care to every child, when it matters most.”

Cell and gene therapies are transforming pediatric care for rare genetic disorders, aggressive cancers and a growing range of complex diseases, the hospital said in its release. Conventional medicine helps to manage chronic symptoms; treatments such as in vivo and ex vivo gene therapies and CAR-T cell therapy aim to halt and reverse disease progression.

The expanded program aims to reduce barriers and wait times for children seeking treatment. Children’s Mercy will lead clinical care delivery, while Basepath Health will streamline time-sensitive care pathways across the pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment phases.

“As more cell and gene therapies come to market, the challenge is how to translate and integrate them into real-world delivery,” Akshara Reddy, co-founder and CEO of Basepath Health, said in its release. “Delivering these therapies requires a fundamentally different level of infrastructure, coordination and operational alignment. Basepath enables health systems to do exactly that.”

Children’s Mercy began its cell and gene therapy program a decade ago, and today it delivers these personalized therapies to only a limited number of patients. The hospital said it hopes to treat five times as many patients in the next four years.

Last month, Children’s Mercy unveiled its plans to build a new $1 billion patient tower at the Adele Hall campus, boosting its total capacity by 25-30%. In March, Children’s Mercy announced its partnership with a Massachusetts-based Vima Therapeutics to develop an oral therapeutic for patients with dystonia and Parkinson’s disease.