Cell therapy holds promise in addressing a number of unmet medical needs but despite its considerable impetus, faces numerous challenges including support for translational research in this area. Here, we examine the challenges confronting cell therapy research including the limited funding available for translational research partly due to the uncompetitive nature of required validation studies in cell therapy that of necessity are not hypothesis-driven. Other issues include lack of standardization of definitions of cell products, uncertainty regarding optimum preclinical animal models, duplication of efforts to secure regulatory approval and a lack of uniformity of nomenclature for some cell products. Nonetheless, several initiatives to address all of these issues are underway.