Healthcare challenges: Could stem cell based therapy contribute to an affordable and accessible heal

Throughout history, human beings have adapted to their environment in different ways, including combating illness and injuries of all kinds. As we moved from our caves to pastoral fields, from fields to villages, from villages to cities and finally on to metropolises, healthcare provision has evolved from healers to complex and organised hospitals. During that transition, mankind has mastered the art of healing by moving from a concept of mystic process when wild claims were made of the simplest herbs, to a scientific and factual approach. And our knowledge continues to grow.

Two drugs exemplify this evolution: aspirin and penicillin.

The aspirin we now know and rely on today, came into being in the late 1890s in the form of acetylsalicylic acid when chemist Felix Hoffmann at Bayer in Germany used it to alleviate his father's rheumatism. However, people are often surprised to learn that aspirin can also be found in jasmine, beans, peas, clover and certain grasses and trees. Items that healers in days gone by would certainly have used to alleviate pain.

Hippocrates, the Greek physician and philosopher who lived from about 460 to 377 B.C., wrote that willow leaves and bark relieved pain and fevers. And, history books tell us that the ancient Egyptians used willow bark as a remedy for aches and pains. Today aspirin is relied on for far more than merely reducing fever or as a pain killer. For example, it’s used as blood thinner to reduce the incidence of heart attacks and plays an important role in the prevention of certain cancers. It’s said that the aspirin of today is in fact saving global healthcare providers almost $700B every year.

Aspirin has transitioned from a mystic healing art to scientific and factual treatment. It’s now accessible and affordable to the masses and having a huge impact on the provision of healthcare. It saves millions of lives and alleviates the suffering of many more every year. No small feat at all.

The second best known example of the fantastic evolution of healthcare is penicillin and its discovery by Alexander Fleming. We all know how many millions of lives penicillin has saved over the years since its development in WW2 where it prevented infection from war wounds. Penicillin’s active ingredient is found in Penicillium mould and just like aspirin, has been used since the ancient times. In Egypt, Greece and India they used mould grown on bread or other plants to treat infections. Again penicillin, like aspirin, has saved and changed millions of lives. It’s saved healthcare providers and governments worldwide billions of dollars and is affordable and accessible to the masses.

Looking to the future

Our global population is growing beyond the 7 billion mark and we are all living longer - in the last decade alone, the number of centenarians in the UK has risen by 65%.

Consequently, healthcare provision is increasingly being challenged, and will continue to be by several factors: the complexity of the conditions that need to be treated, affordability and accessibility. Globally, healthcare professionals, institutions, policy makers, economists, governments and most importantly patients are looking at different sustainability options; how to spend more on healthcare via increased taxation, save on healthcare by making it more efficient, mixing private-public healthcare, discover new solutions and new therapies.

Could adult stem cells be part of the solution? One can think so. Stem cells are not a mystic or a magical healing option, but like aspirin and penicillin they have always been there. They are natural components in our body that help us every day to grow and adapt to our environment. They heal us from illness and injury and defend our bodies against external harsh conditions. They do this by renewing and regenerating lost cells and tissues.

Just like aspirin and penicillin, the healing properties of stem cells is not a new concept. The bone marrow has been used to treat certain blood cancers with success and we now understand that haematopoietic stem cells are what causes this success. However, the shortage of bone marrow and genetic diversity has pushed us to find other sources of these haematopoietic stem cells, namely in peripheral blood and in umbilical cord blood. The use of these stem cells from umbilical cord blood is routinely used in certain blood cancers and is saving lives today.

However, the affordability and accessibility remain a challenge.

Like the ancient healers did with their lotions and potions and promises that willow and mould would cure everything and anything, some unscrupulous and non-ethical persons today are promising miracles with stem cells. But, just as they have never done, these unscrupulous healers will not stop the progress made by the science and medicine.

Stem cells are saving lives today. Tomorrow they will save even more. And the future? Who knows what that holds. The possibilities and potential are endless. They certainly have the potential to save billions in direct and indirect medical costs,

including lost work time. As well as the potential to save millions of lives and contribute towards making healthcare provision more affordable and accessible.

Surely that can only be a good thing for economies, healthcare providers, governments and above all patients worldwide?