Stem cell technologies market to hit $700M in 2012

January 18, 2012 | Rene Letourneau, Editor

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NEW YORK CITY – The market for stem cell technologies will rise to over $700 million this year, and given some positive trends, could reach over $1 billion, according to healthcare market research publisher Kalorama Information.

In its new report, “Stem Cells: Worldwide Markets for Transplantation, Cord Blood Banking and Drug Development,” Kalorama cites newly permitted U.S. usage and accompanying research funding in its positive forecasts.

Kalorama included a range for its market forecast because some factors are variable.

“Whether we see a worst case or best case scenario in the stem cell market depends on a number of factors,” said Bruce Carlson, publisher for Kalorama Information, in a statement. “A likely scenario is that developers will continue to expand the utilization of ethically acceptable adult stem cells, and that patents and royalty payments will not seriously inhibit financial incentives. We also anticipate that at least a portion of current technologies under development will prove safe, clear regulations and show substantial benefits over current therapies.”

According to the report, cell therapies are now largely confined to a few conditions, especially oncological conditions such as leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, although certain non-cancerous diseases like aplastic anemia, immunodeficiency and lupus are also increasingly addressed with stem cells.

Kalorama finds that cord blood banking is also a source of revenue growth. With a readily available supply of stem cells that does not require yet-to-be developed technologies to utilize, umbilical cord blood is one of the least controversial sources of stem cells and many people support the notion of routinely collecting cord blood at birth.

The United States had been among the most vocal countries in its opposition to embryonic cell research, with several bills vetoed during the 2000 to 2007 period that would have loosened restrictions on federal funding. In 2009, the Obama administration issued Executive Order 13505, “Removing Barriers to Responsible Research Involving Human Stem Cells,” which explicitly set out to expand National Institutes of Health support for the exploration of human stem cell research. As a result, NIH stem cell research funding from 2003 through 2010 has steadily increased, particularly in the past two years.

Follow HFN Editor Rene Letourneau on Twitter @ReneLetourneau.

Rene Letourneau

Editor of Healthcare Finance News

Follow Rene on Twitter @ReneLetourneau

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Americord says: A $12 million, five-year grant is helping Texas Medical Center r

March 22, 2012 | 6:26AM GMT

A $12 million, five-year grant is helping Texas Medical Center researchers improve the use of cord blood – taken from the umbilical cord and placenta after a baby’s birth – to treat cancer patients.

The grant from the National Cancer Institute is funding cord-blood research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital.

“Umbilical cord blood transplantation provides a life-saving option for hematologic cancer patients who need a blood stem-cell transplant but cannot be matched to a donor,” said Elizabeth Shpall, M.D., professor of stem-cell transplantation at MD Anderson.

Shpall is co-principal investigator on the grant along with Catherine Bollard, M.D., associate professor of pediatric hematology and oncology, immunology, and medicine at Baylor, and a member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy.

Cord blood replenishes the different kinds of blood cells killed during the potent chemotherapy used to eliminate diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma – all forms of cancer. Even when a match is not perfect, cord blood can still be used because its immature immune cells are unlikely to attack the patient’s tissues.

Because cord blood does not have to be closely matched to the blood of the recipient, it’s possible to give cord blood to large numbers of patients, Bollard said.

“This is important for patients who cannot find a related donor or sibling,” she explained, “and especially for minority populations whose chances of finding a matched, unrelated donor on a bone-marrow transplant registry are very low. Cord blood transplantation is the only cure for many patients with cancers of the blood such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.”

But co-investigator Shpall warned that there are not only advantages, but also disadvantages, to using cord blood.

“Units of cord blood are usually low-volume, which makes it difficult for the cells to grow in the patient,” she said. “That might mean that the transplant does not take.”

To expand the number of blood stem cells harvested from an umbilical cord, Shpall is working with Paul Simmons, Ph.D., on a technique that grows umbilical cord blood stem cells on a bed of supportive stem cells called mesenchymal stromal cells discovered by Simmons, who is an adjunct professor at MD Anderson and former director of the Center for Stem Cell Research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. A clinical trial of the use of these cells in transplantation is under way.

And Bollard, with her MD Anderson colleagues, has developed a method to expand cord blood T-cells that are trained to kill the viruses that can infect patients after transplant. A clinical trial of this approach is also taking place now.

The researchers also will study the use of cord blood-derived T-cells that target leukemia and lymphoma to prevent relapse after cord blood transplantation.

“These are all major hurdles we are trying to overcome,” Bollard said, “in an effort to treat larger numbers of adult and childhood patients.”

Republished from contributions from Scott Merville at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Gale Smith at The Methodist Hospital and Christy Brunton at Texas Children’s Hospital.

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