[Alexandra Romero, Guest Author]  Recently, I had the opportunity to attend one of the largest events related to the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Industry – Phacilitate/World Stem Cell Summit 2018. During the Plenary Super Session, Co-Chair Anthony Davies heavily discussed on a series of “fireside chats” the extremely high cost of some of the new stem cell-based treatments that have been recently approved. These conversations set the tone for one of the most discussed topics throughout  the conference that gathered a great number of leaders not only from the medical and research fields, but also from the business sector. The “elephant in the room” seemed to finally be acknowledged, at least to some extent.

On the other hand, at the Cord Blood and Perinatal Stem Cells sessions, the big question on everybody’s mind was whether there is anything remarkably new and promising in the horizon that will allow the industry to stop its slow but steady decline caused by the lack of recent advancements. It was clear to the attendees (cord blood banks, investors, and research scientists), that the market has been experiencing a slow and chronic decline over the past 5 years, and there is a serious need to offer more options in terms of innovative and accessible treatments in order for the industry to remain sustainable in upcoming years. There has been a rapid evolution in the sources to obtain and utilize stem cells, which have been thoroughly addressed by Bioinformant in previous articles.  [Read more…]