Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
term in scope. The particular example of
in vitro
meat is still largely
hypothetical and requires significant technical development before any
such products will even be close to entering the food chain.
Questions for interested parties to consider before entering on a
commercial endeavour might thus include: animal or human models?
Would the product be produced on site or processed in a central
laboratory? What are the regulatory parameters that shape potential
applications? How would regulatory parameters affect the potential
market size and the location of production? Finally, what would be
a fair price for some of these technologies?
More generally, consideration of issues to do with the cost of
healthcare, the level of health coverage of populations, and the ability
of healthcare systems to distribute resources to more patients than is
supported by a user pays model will also influence the final outcomes
for emerging stem cell products. For instance, if the fat stem cell
treatment currently being put through human clinical trials is too
expensive to administer for public healthcare systems and not covered
by private insurance for individual patients, this will significantly
reduce the numbers of people able to access the technology and
consequently lower the market demand for any related products.
Consequently, the intersections between patient demand and the
factors that influence health provision in different countries are going
to have important implications for market share.
References
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Arking, R., Butler, B., Chiko, B., Fossel, M., Gavrilov, L. et al. (2003)
'Anti-aging teleconference: what is anti-aging medicine?',
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Associated Press (2006) 'Dead cats to remain a memory',
Wired
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12 October. Online at:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/
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