Science Saturday: Regenerative medicine on cusp of health care transformation
- April 3, 2021
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The evolution of regenerative medicine has reached a milestone, moving from exploratory pipelines to daily clinical care options. Mayo Clinic’s Center for Regenerative Medicine, a driver of this innovation, explored the underpinnings needed to more broadly advance regenerative health care toward standardized practice. The conclusions of this study are outlined in a review published in Regenerative Medicine.
The vision of regenerative medicine is to move from treating symptoms of disease to targeting causes of disease, and from fighting disease to rebuilding health ― all while enriching health care by providing new cures. The aspirational goal is to increase health span — living a disease-free life for as long as possible.
“At the core of realizing an equitable regenerative medicine vision are team science research and technology development, scaled biomanufacturing and evidence-based practice implementation, collectively delivered by an educated, specialized workforce,” says Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and senior author of the study.
Need for new health care solutions
An aging global population is unleashing a tsunami of chronic conditions that don’t always respond to conventional treatments. As an example, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network reported more than 118,000 patients were on its transplant waitlist in early March despite nearly 100 transplants performed daily. A new patient is added to the waitlist every nine minutes.
“The gap between organ procurement and patient demand underscores the necessity for alternatives,” says Dr. Terzic. “Adoption of regenerative solutions is grounded on a value-added proposition, advancing intended outcomes beyond the extent of current management options.”
Regenerative medicine options are expanding.
Read the rest of the article on the Center for Regenerative Medicine blog.
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