In part 1 of this feature marking the 10-year anniversary of Signals, we got to know the people behind the posts a little better. Now, we’re looking to the future of regenerative medicine and science with the help of our contributors. In this post, bloggers Lyla El-Fayomi, David Kent and Sara Nolte are joined by CCRM leaders Dr. Michael May, President & CEO, Dr. Cynthia Lavoie, President & Chief Investment Officer, CCRM Enterprises Ltd., and Mitchel Sivilotti, COO and President of CCRM’s new subsidiary, OmniaBio Inc. Together they envision what the field could look like in 2050, from the big picture to the small – and not-so-small – details of how we’ll get there.
Read on to learn how science will solve some of the biggest challenges of our time, as regenerative medicine transforms human health and our health-care systems.
Lyla El-Fayomi: We’ve averted an antibiotic-resistant bacterial devastation because, this time, we listened to the scientists. A breakthrough in gene editing has enabled us to correct disease-related genes safely and effectively, curing a slew of both common and rare conditions. Regenerative therapies are mainstream. The earth is a cleaner, healthier place thanks to the changes we made – just in the nick of time – that allowed us to prevent many disastrous consequences of global warming (though, not all). After cooperating on climate change, nations around the world continued to lift each other up, realizing that the health of one is the health of many. A wholistic and equity-driven approach is taken to health care where genetic, living, working, and social contexts are treated with equal importance. All to say, science is no longer a societal afterthought: it guides every decision made, from the minutiae of day-to-day life through to the policies that determine our wellbeing.
Michael May: My parents were married for 65 years. They passed away, two months apart of old age, in the heart of the COVID pandemic. They both suffered from dementia, diabetes, aches and pains, and muscle loss. The last battle for both was an infection that they were too weak to fight. In their final years, I visited the pharmacy regularly to pick up the dozens of drugs that kept them functioning. This had me thinking: What will the “pharmacy of the future” look like, when cell and gene therapies, and other advanced therapies, are standard course for aging?
Instead of a myriad of pills placed in those fancy dispensers to keep my daily dosages organized, will my kids take my prescription – along with me – to a pharmacy/treatment centre where I will get an infusion of islets to control my blood sugar levels, or for a dose of hematopoietic stem cells to juice my immune system, some cardiomyocytes to repair the damage to my heart from too much pickleball, and a cocktail of mRNA to stave off cancer? Of course, these products will all be highly engineered to work seamlessly with my newfangled diagnostic toilet that will alert my AI physician of my health status on a daily basis. The final product I might take home is a twelve-pack of yogurt containing engineered bacteria to deliver all the drugs that haven’t yet been replaced by cell and gene therapies. Come to think of it, I probably won’t need my kids to take me to this “pharmacy of the future.” My wife and I will take the Harley after our yoga class.
Sara Nolte: First of all, how is 2050 only 28 years away?! One of my biggest hopes for this future would be OPEN ACCESS publication of all original research. To me, this would truly embrace what science is meant to be: an objective inquiry of phenomena, and the open discovery and sharing of observations. I imagine a world where we’ve used genetic engineering to cure diabetes, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease. Engineering and geological sciences have led us to stop climate change, by finding alternative energy sources, planet-friendly waste disposal methods, and stabilization of our fragile ecosystems. Space exploration (maybe even colonization?!) isn’t limited to the obscenely rich, but is open to all who are fascinated by what lies among the stars.
Mitchel Sivilotti: Economics will continue to be a key driver. The cost of providing curative, often one-time, treatments is not only high but also concentrated around the time of the single treatment rather than spread over many years, as seen with traditional pharmaceuticals. This reality will drive outcome-based payment models, and it will also influence modality selection by therapeutic developers. Patient-specific cell and gene therapies will continue to play an important role; however, it would follow strong logic that the market will focus on more scalable modalities like induced pluripotent stem cell (allogeneic) approaches and in vivo technologies aided by viral vector, lipid nanoparticle and other delivery advancements. Coupled together with advancements in manufacturing and supply chain automation, and supported by artificial intelligence, cell and gene therapies have incredible potential.
David Kent: Houses are automatically cleaned, fossil-fuel transportation has been eliminated, and we walk through a scanner every week that tells us whether we are at risk of dying. (I’m totally enamoured by the idea of the Star Trek medical tricorder!).
Cynthia Lavoie: Cell and gene therapies have already demonstrated great promise as the ultimate precision medicine in some diseases, such as cancer. As we approach a tipping point in advancing technical platforms, improving manufacturing capabilities, and gaining access to better-curated patient genetic, medical and treatment data, we will be able to develop these promising technologies in new areas and other indications. I expect the next 30 years to take us from serving select populations of patients to serving the broadest patient population with cell and gene therapies directly related to specific disease conditions, for superior patient benefit and lasting cures.
How this translates to investments in the field is a broadening of venture capital dollars into areas of cell and gene therapies outside of oncology, including metabolic diseases, auto-immune disorders, and even cardiovascular diseases long overlooked by early-stage investors. We will see 30 years of additional clinical experience with cell therapies and cell editing technologies, several of which should result in regulatory approvals. With this, I expect the investor pool to expand to include more late-stage and growth investors, rounding out the access to capital at every stage of drug development – creating a healthy market for developing cures!
Check back with Signals in 2050, when we’ll review how accurate these predictions were. You’ll find us prominently displayed at your Metaverse newsstand.
For more on the future of medicine, you might also enjoy this Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine blog post looking to the regenerative operating room of the future. An increased focus on personalized medicine features in many such future forecasts, and this post highlights how products such as tissues engineered for targeted healing, or 3D-printed scaffolds that repair diseased organs, bones or cartilage could be customized to address individual needs. Let us know your science/regenerative medicine predictions for the future in the comments below.
Cal Strode
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