The Potential of Stem Cell Research
Bone marrow transplants are now a routine procedure – globally 45,000 people receive such treatments every year – while drugs such as erythropoietin that target stem cell differentiation are widely used in clinics. Without question, the increasing tempo of discovery in stem cell research will result in many new treatments entering the clinic over the next decade. Cancer, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, cardiac damage, multiple sclerosis, and macular degeneration are a few examples of the diseases being studied by SCN scientists with the goal of developing novel therapies.
The Health Care Burden
For six decades, Canadians have relied upon a universally accessible and publicly funded health care system – that system has come to be one of the defining characteristics of Canada. Within the last five years, both the Romanow Commission and the Kirby Report have noted the important role new technologies and therapeutic approaches will play in achieving long-term financially stability in the healthcare system. In this context, stem cell research has a critical role to play in the future economic health of Canada.
For example, every year 1,500 Canadians suffer a traumatic spinal cord injury. The direct health care costs for each new case are estimated at over $500,000 over the lifetime of the patient for a total $750 million—spending that could be mitigated every year by effective stem cell therapy. Indeed, billions of direct healthcare system costs could be redirected to other priorities if novel therapies were found for just a few of the diseases being investigated by SCN researchers.
Furthermore, the indirect economic burden of many diseases—as a result of long-term disability, lost productivity (both for patients and their families), and premature mortality—is in many cases more significant than the direct costs to the health care system. For example, Health Canada estimates the annual direct healthcare costs for the 100,000 Canadians with Parkinson’s disease at close to $100 million; the annual indirect costs are an estimated $500 million. Of course, Canada is not alone in facing escalating health care costs; aging populations and the increasing societal burden of chronic disease are challenges in all developed countries.
The Economic Opportunity
The potential for stem cell therapeutics and regenerative medicine to mitigate or cure disease represents an enormous economic opportunity – even the most conservative estimates value the total market in the US$2-3 billion range over the next three years. The development of new drugs that act on stem cells will also become an important component of the regenerative medicine market. For example, sales of just two versions of erythropoietin (EPO), a drug used to treat anemia due to its ability to expand red blood cell volume by targeting the differentiation of blood progenitors, had sales in the US of $5.1 billion in 2004.
Despite the scope of these opportunities, the stem cell and regenerative medicine market is still in its commercial infancy. Cell-based biologic products represent both new technology and a business model that remains largely unknown, but is certainly different from traditional drug or device development. Drug and device companies are proceeding cautiously, and waiting to see who emerges from the 100 or more stem cell companies now operating around the world, most of which tend to lack the critical mass and the clinical, regulatory and manufacturing capabilities to establish a sustainable product portfolio and technology pipeline. Where these challenges can be successfully addressed there is every chance stem cell research will give rise to significant new companies.