Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
in the form of cosmetic treatments like 'stem cell facelifts' (Wangmann,
2011) or research into new treatments for diseases that
disproportionately affect older people, the substantial growth in the
anti-ageing market demonstrates that there is significant scope for
stem cell treatments to be developed for this market. Most notably,
'stem cell facelifts' and other cosmetic procedures involving adult
stem cells are already available in some parts of the world.
Furthermore, although the long-anticipated organs easily grown
in
vitro
to order are a long way off (and indeed may never actually
eventuate), the principle governing such a scenario would prove a
significant boon to the anti-ageing market.
Much social and ethical debate has focused on drawing a
distinction between anti-ageing and life-extension technologies. In a
comparison of the use of assisted reproduction technologies (ART)
and the potential for future uses of life-extension technologies, for
example, some commentators have observed that there is a distinction
between 'compression of morbidity' or staying healthy into old age
and radically extending the current limits of life (Lucke et al., 2010).
Drawing parallels between the evolution of community attitudes
towards ART and the potential unfolding of life-extension
technologies, these commentators suggest that although there are
current concerns about the ethical, political and social consequences
of life extension technologies, they will eventually become accepted
as a normal part of human experience (Lucke et al., 2010).
2.2
Healthcare providers and the consumption of
stem cell technologies
When the growing demand for stem cell therapies is put into the
broader context of healthcare provision more generally, there are a
number of other factors that may potentially impact on the future
shape of the market. The politics of healthcare provision, structural
inequalities in health and increasing medicalization of certain
conditions will further shape the future development of the field.
Evidence from the history of drug development in the global
pharmaceutical market highlights how these issues impact on the
