Golden Era in Medicine: Regenerative Medicine Symposium Looks to the Future

Business Strategy in Regenerative Medicine panel discussion.

Practice advancements, scientific discoveries, product development and access to care were just a few of the topics featured at the 2018 Mayo Clinic Symposium on Regenerative Medicine and Surgery, held earlier this month in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Over 200 providers, scientists, educators, students, entrepreneurs and patient advocates were in attendance to share knowledge and discuss how science driven advancements in regenerative medicine are increasingly embedded in daily practice and what this means for the future of the field.

“If you think about the advances that are occurring in medicine — in immunotherapy, genomics, big data, artificial intelligence, and in regenerative medicine, there is no doubt that 50-100 years from now this time will be viewed as the golden era in medicine,” says Wyatt Decker, M.D., vice president, Mayo Clinic, and CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. “A time when incredible advances were made and solutions were developed for once unsolvable dilemmas in health care.”

While discoveries and practice advances are being made in bringing regenerative medicine breakthroughs to clinical trials and practice applications, experts are now looking at the future of the regenerative practice and what that means for patient care.

“Although stem therapies are a mainstay of the regenerative medicine practice of today and the future, we also need to think about how to reduce cost and improve therapeutic effectiveness for these and other regenerative therapies,” said Atta Behfar, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, who is director of the Van Cleve Cardiac Regenerative Medicine Program and deputy director of translation for the Center for Regenerative Medicine. “Patient access is important in regenerative medicine and how we disseminate regenerative medicine technologies across the world is key.”

Throughout the symposium, Mayo Clinic experts in regenerative medicine highlighted clinical trial breakthroughs and advancements in therapeutic interventions that address diseases and conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, spinal-cord injuries and diabetes. Updates on product development and manufacturing, CAR-T cell therapy, and the first patients treated at the Florida Regenerative Medicine Therapeutic Suites were also presented. Over 50 posters in clinical application, regenerative education, and translational science showcasing the next discoveries and innovations in regenerative medicine were presented at the symposium.

“Mayo Clinic is going to be the institution that the world looks to as we incorporate regenerative technologies into the day-to-day medical practice,” says Richard Hayden, M.D., an otolaryngologist, director of education for the Center for Regenerative Medicine, and symposium director. “Mayo has to be in the game to ensure complex patient care needs are met now and in the future.”