PERSONALIZED CELL THERAPY MARKET ANALYSIS

The high cost of cell therapy treatment can hamper the global personalized cell therapy market growth. Cell therapy involves complex manufacturing processes that require specialized equipment and facilities. This makes the treatment expensive, putting it out of reach for many patients. Developing personalized therapies that precisely meet an individual patient's needs makes the process even more complex and costly. Currently, the average cost of a single dose of cell therapy ranges from US$ 300,000 to US$ 500,000 in most countries. Some of the most advanced personalized cell therapies can cost over US$ 1 million per patient.

While these treatments have shown promising results for curing various terminal diseases, the high price tag means only a small fraction of patients who could potentially benefit are able to access them. Insurance coverage for these novel treatments is still limited in many parts of the world as these are still considered experimental. This financial burden often has to be borne by the patient themselves. High treatment costs also restrict patient access in developing nations with limited healthcare budgets. In 2021, according to the report by the United Nations Development Programmed, more than half of world's population does not have full coverage of essential health services. These lack access to advanced therapies due to their countries' inability to afford them.

Market Opportunities: Growing research on engineered cell therapies

Engineered cell therapies have become a promising area of medical research globally in recent years. With continuous advancement in stem cell biology and gene engineering, researchers are now able to develop personalized cell therapies that can cure diseases that were considered incurable until now. One of the most prominent examples is use of chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy in treating some types of cancers. In CAR-T therapy, a patient's own T cells are engineered to recognize and attack cancer cells. This therapy has shown tremendous potential in treating certain leukemias and lymphomas with remission rates as high as 90% in clinical trials. As the research progresses, many new cell therapy candidates are under development for a wide range of chronic and degenerative conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and arthritis. Scientists are engineering various cell types like stem cells, cartilage cells, insulin-producing cells and brain cells through genetic modification and cocooning them in biomaterials to effectively regenerate damaged tissues and restore organ function in the body. For instance, in 2020, according to a study published by Stem Cell Reviews and Reports Journal, regenerative trials using engineered mesenchymal stem cells coated in biomaterials showed promising results in repairing knee cartilage for osteoarthritis patients.