Stem cell market shows signs of fast growth

The stem cell market has grown from zero to $87 million in less than three years, and analysts at the year's Stem Cell Summit were bullishly forecasting its growth to $8.5 billion over the next decade. Most of the initial growth is likely to come from the adult stem cell side, where developers have focused on new therapies--free from the controversy posed by embryonic stem cells.

"One of the pieces of rhetoric you hear all of the time is that the U.S. is far behind in stem cell research because of this or that. But the fact is, we are not only the furthest along in the U.S., but the world," said Randal Mills, chief executive of Osiris Therapeutics. Osiris has already inked a contract with the Defense Department for Prochymal and is in late-stage trials for graft vs. host disease. Several biotech companies have stem cell products on the market and a number of others are angling to get in soon.

- read the article from the Chicago Tribune

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