Stem Cell Therapy in ‘Transition Period’ Benefiting Devicemakers

Advanced therapies using cells are being commercialized rapidly and are transitioning from development to implementation, a trend that will work in favor of the medical device industry, Cytonome President Lydia Villa-Komaroff said.

A number of trials have indicated cell therapy will be an effective treatment, and one analyst has predicted the cell therapy market will be worth $8.5 billion by 2016, Villa-Komaroff added, speaking at AdvaMed 2007.

Cell therapy is in a transition period, shifting from development to more practical issues of implementation, and medical devicemakers have a critical role to play in this transition, she said.

The medical device industry touches every part of the process for these therapies, from cell extraction to therapy evaluation, she said, adding that the industry is uniquely qualified to lower the risks and advance the practice of cellular medicine.