A symposium was held in Kyoto City to discuss the challenges of early delivery of "regenerative medicine," which treats diseases by producing various tissues and cells of the body, to patients, and discussions were held on the need for a new medical treatment system that utilizes private medical insurance to spread it.
This symposium was organized as part of the "Society for Japan Regenerative Medicine" held in Kyoto.
Dr. Masayo Takahashi, who led the world's first clinical study to transplant retinal tissue made from iPS cells into patients with severe eye diseases, stated that regenerative medicine requires cells to be created and transplanted according to the patient, so "unlike general drugs, simply manufacturing cells is not a treatment, and there is a big gap in its spread."
In addition, he stated that it is difficult to deliver advanced regenerative medicine to patients with only public medical insurance as insurance finances are under pressure due to the aging of the population, and that "it is necessary to utilize private insurance that covers high treatment costs."
In response to this, Professor Masato Sato of Tokai University, who is conducting clinical research on transplanting chondrocytes to treat the knee, said, "There is private insurance that covers the copayment of drugs that are not covered by public insurance for cancer treatment. I pointed out.
After the symposium, Dr. Takahashi said, "There are many doctors and researchers who are worried that they cannot deliver treatment to patients even though there is a promising treatment, and I would like to promote the creation of a system to deliver treatment to patients as soon as possible."