Regenerative Medicine: The Trojan Horse of the Medical Device Industry?
For regenerative medicine to truly deliver on its potential, one important stakeholder, medical device companies, have to come to grips with the increasing role of regenerative medicine in patient care. Moreover device firms must embrace their part in bringing new regenerative therapies to market. As regenerative medicine is anticipated to have a profound and transformational impact on the medical technology industry, device manufacturers must modify traditional business models to capitalize on the emergence of this field. However, multiple significant obstacles exist; medical device firms looking to participate in this space will have to establish synergies with their existing portfolios, play a role in educating the public, become diligent in tracking progress within the industry, target high-potential regenerative medicine-focused companies for acquisitions and mergers, anticipate and navigate reimbursement difficulties for novel regenerative therapies, invest heavily in clinical trials, leverage their existing geographical footprints where possible, and think outside of the box in product development. In spite of these challenges, and the obvious risks associated with entering the largely evolving field, medical technology companies must ready themselves to compete in this new healthcare environment, one in which regenerative medicine will assume a more central role over time.
