Concise Review: Cell Therapies: The Route to Widespread Adoption

We identify three dimensions with which to classify heuristically the routes to widespread adoption of cellular therapies. The first dimension is based on the relative involvement of clinicians and companies in a particular cellular therapy. The second dimension is based on cell type and consequent scale of manufacture. The third dimension classifies the therapeutic intervention as a procedure or product and has perhaps received less attention. We suggest that for those cellular therapies that require therapeutic procedures, close collaboration between companies and clinicians will reduce the time to widespread adoption. For selected cellular therapies we make predictions of the likely time to widespread adoption. STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE 2012;1:438-447