WASHINGTON, D.C. — China is pouring resources into biotechnology and regenerative medicine, racing to develop the next generation of medical treatments.
The next major arms race with China may not only be about weapons and artificial intelligence.
“We can reverse heart damage after a heart attack by injecting stem cells into the heart muscle. Why isn’t that being done routinely? Do you realize how much money that saves patients in medical care down the line,” said Dr. Roberta Shapiro, chief medical officer for Crescel LLC and an assistant clinical professor at Columbia University Medical Center’s Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Shapiro says the U.S. needs to close the gap with China in the emerging field of regenerative medicine.
“Basically, biologically active substances that we can add to somebody’s system that allows their body to naturally heal,” she said.
China, she warns, is gaining ground- rapidly expanding its biotechnology industry in recent decades.
“They have completely expanded that platform and have become a powerhouse in the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on biotechnology, regenerative medicine and bio botanicals,” Shapiro said.
One major advantage China holds is speed — with fewer regulatory hurdles.
“The amount of time for a drug to be discovered and then come to market is half of the time that we have to spend because we have so many more hurdles to jump,” said Shapiro.
Shapiro says regenerative medicine should not be viewed as alternative care — but as a core part of modern medicine.
“We look at it as ‘alternative care,’ but in fact, regenerative medicine is the mainstay of treatment,” she said. “That’s what makes it different from the model that we use in medicine in this country, which is largely, ‘just look at the symptoms and suppress the symptoms and manage the disease’ as opposed to treating it at its basic, deepest level.”
She says the stakes go beyond medicine — impacting the economy, and national security.
“If we can limit disease processes in their early stages, we cut costs exponentially,” said Shapiro. “A healthier population is going to also be a more secure population,” she added.
Shapiro says America still has an opportunity to regain its edge, but needs to do so, quickly.
“We have to, we don’t have a choice if we want to stay competitive in the industrial world the way we are right now,” Shapiro said. “We are the leaders. We have to maintain that status as leaders.”
Shapiro warns that if the U.S. falls behind, Americans could eventually be forced to look overseas for treatments that are developed faster and made available sooner.
