Great expectations: Private sector activity in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and stem cell therapeutics

This report draws upon data from a variety of sources to provide a detailed estimate of the current scope of private sector development and commercial activity in the aggregate field comprising tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and stem cell therapeutics. Economic activity has grown a remarkable fivefold in the past 5 years. As of mid-2007 approximately 50 firms or business units with over 3000 employees offered commercial tissue-regenerative products or services with generally profitable annual sales in excess of $1.3 billion. Well over a million patients have been treated with these products. In addition, 110 development-stage companies with over 55 products in FDA-level clinical trials and other preclinical stages employed similar to 2500 scientists or support personnel and spent 850 million development dollars in 2007. These totals represent a remarkable recovery from the downturn of 2000 - 2002, at which time tissue engineering was in shambles because of disappointing product launches, failed regulatory trials, and the general investment pullback following the dot-com crash. Commercial success has resulted in large measure from identification of products that are achievable with available technology and under existing regulatory guidelines. Development-stage firms have become much more adept at risk management. The resilience of the field, as well as its current breadth and diversity, augurs well for the future of regenerative medicine.