Current and Future Stem Cell Regulation: A Call to Action

The orthopedic sports medicine profession experienced a pivotal shift with the acceptance and application of the arthroscope. The next leap forward will hinge on the acceptance, application, and regulation of biologic therapies, and a sentinel event will be the US Food and Drug Administration approval of a stem cell technology. While the arthroscope was developed in the hands of our sports medicine mentors, the current history of biologics has been mostly written by basic scientists. The baby steps of these technologies have involved benchtop laboratory studies and preclinical animal trials, clearly illustrating great potential. Clinical progress has struggled forward but stalled. Regulatory constraints and our inability to establish safety and efficacy are the major hurdles, with disconnect between the basic scientist, clinician, and regulatory bodies to blame. While the development of the arthroscope was barely influenced by governmental regulation, this will control and model the future of stem cell technologies. With current legislation before Congress concerning stem cell regulation, the next steps are dependent upon the clinician's understanding and participation in this regulation.