What former Obama’s $6.3B “21st Century Cures Act” could mean for Regenerative Medicine with Trump
By now, it is known to all the healthcare world that former President Barack Obama had signed a new $6.3 billion law 21st Century Cures Act for cancer research and drug treatment – marking a significant progress in Cancer R&D and drug treatment. The law expedites the government review of drugs, medical devices while boosting research on diseases like Cancer, Alzheimer and fight opioid abuse.
“We are bringing to reality the possibility of new breakthroughs to some of the greatest health challenges of our time,” said the former President, in presence of some of the creators of the bill including Reps. Fred Pallone, D-New Jersey, Diana DeGette, D-Colorado; and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee.
Former Vice-President, Joe Biden also hailed the law stating, “God willing, this bill will literally, not figuratively, save lives.”
Few Facts About the Bill
- The bill authorizes giving states $1 billion in the next couple of years to prevent the use of opioids, heroin and other harmful drugs.
- Spending of $6.3 billion will be done over the course of next 10 years.
- The bill streamlines the approval process for drugs and medical devices at the Food and Drug Administration.
- Unlike the current process where FDA doesn’t approve drugs and products based on weaker evidence of safety and efficacy, the bill pressurises the Food and Drug regulator of the country.
What This Means for the Medical Research Industry
The 21st Century Cures Act is an historic step for medical research and development industry. At a time when hundreds of thousands of young men and women die of diseases like life-threatening illness. This could also result in a significant psychological and financial boost to regenerative medicines industry, which currently stands at $17 billion in 2016. And it is expected to reach USD $49.41 billion by 2021 at a CAGR of 23.7% over the next 5 years.
Overview of Regenerative Medicines
Regenerative medicine is an evolving sector of research and technology in the healthcare market. It can be accomplished by allowing the body’s cells to heal by itself and by treating a patient with laboratory developed cells and tissues. The regenerative medicines are currently being developed by few organizations like CRYO Stem actively involved in biology, chemistry, and physical sciences. And they are working on creating cell-based therapies, tissue-engineered materials and implantable devices that can change the future of medical sciences.
A quick example of how revolutionary this whole idea of regenerative medicine is; few scientists from the University of Virginia School did few path-breaking experiments around stem cells and organ generation. Below is a short excerpt about their experiment about fish embryos:
Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have overcome one of the greatest challenges in biology and taken a major step toward being able to grow whole organs and tissues from stem cells. By manipulating the appropriate signaling, the U.Va. researchers have turned embryonic stem cells into a fish embryo, essentially controlling embryonic development.
… The importance of that is profound. “If we know how to instruct embryonic cells,” she said, “we can pretty much do what we want.” For example, scientists will be able one day to instruct stem cells to grow into organs needed for transplant.
Now, although such experiments represent huge success for the whole healthcare world, doing them on humans is still few years away. Having said that, the rapid innovation and experimentation happening in the regenerative medicine industry – has got the whole medical world curious. More and more biotech, stem cell generation companies are joining the bandwagon.
President Obama Delivers Remarks and Signs the 21st Century Cures Act
With the 21st Century Cures Act, the entire regenerative medicine industry is going to get a huge boost as the government gets more and more involved in active development of such cures. With innovation led by companies like American CRYOStem and others in the regenerative medicine industry, the government hopes to save billions of dollars in the coming few decades as more and more people get access to this revolutionary health care possibly at cost-effective prices.