Stem cell therapies are a (big) part of an entirely new field of medicine that’s been developing over the last several years – regenerative medicine. Every major research university in the country now has an Institute of Regenerative Medicine or a Stem Cell Research Institute, and all are focused on the development of cell-based therapies to replace or regenerate tissue – alone or in combination with more conventional treatments.
Regenerative medicine includes stem cell therapies, gene therapies, tissue engineering, scaffolding, 3-D bio-printing and multiple technology advances in the field of personalized medicine. As the name implies, these are therapies that will fix a problem rather than treat it (think drugs). There are more than 700 bio-tech companies in the U.S. working in this space right now and almost all of big pharma is investing in these technologies to get ahead of therapies that will make their drugs obsolete. The future of medicine has already been completely changed.
This is a step forward in the evolution of treatments for previously untreatable conditions.
Virtually any malfunctioning, damaged or failing tissue could be repaired or replaced by harnessing the power of your body’s own stem cells to regenerate new, healthy tissue – or accept donated cells and tissues when the damage is extensive. These life-changing therapies eliminate healthcare costs related to treatments and long-term care.
According to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, nearly 25% of the national GDP will be devoted to healthcare by 2040. The majority of those projected costs are for the treatment of diseases most closely associated with aging. Regenerative medicine therapies are already being explored to combat diseases like diabetes, osteoporosis and macular degeneration. They can also help repair the damage caused by a heart attack and repair or replace the multiple and often extensive areas of tissue damage sustained by combat veterans.
Active areas of research and development include the ability to grow organs and tissues in a lab. There are 100,000 people in the U.S. on a waiting list to receive an organ transplant and many of them won’t survive the wait. Regenerative medicine may hold the key to growing healthy organs from their own cells or healthy donor cells for life-saving transplantation.