The business of exploiting induced pluripotent stem cells

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) can be exploited for both research and clinical applications. The first part of this review seeks to provide an understanding of the financial drivers and key elements of a successful business strategy that underpin a company focused on developing iPS-related products and services targeted at the research market. The latter part of the review highlights some of the reasons as to why the reprogramming of somatic cells is currently being used to develop cell-based models to screen for small molecules with drug-like properties rather than to develop cell-based regenerative medicines per se. The latter may be used to repair or replace a patient's damaged cells and thereby have the potential to 'cure' a disease and, in doing so, prevent or delay the onset of associated medical conditions. However, the cost of an expensive regenerative medicine and time to accrue any benefit linked to a decrease in co-morbidity expenditure may not outweigh the benefit for a healthcare community that has finite resources. The implications of this are discussed together with evidence that the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Health Service (NHS) have established a precedent for a cost-sharing strategy with the pharmaceutical industry.