Editorial: Recent Advances and Innovative Strategies Applied in the Development of Biomaterials

DESIMONE, MARTIN F.; ORIVE, GORKA

CURRENT PHARMACEUTICAL DESIGN.

BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBL LTD

Año: 2017 vol. 23 p. 3453 - 3454

1381-6128

An increasing clinical need exists for the design and development of biomaterials, technologies and tools to enhance the regeneration of injured or diseased tissues and organs. This demand is particularly enormous in the case of chronic and acute musculoskeletal conditions, including osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, bone, cartilage, tendon, and other injuries such as infection and cancer. Treatment of these conditions involves 34 million surgical procedures per year in the USA alone. To address these challenges, the rapidly growing field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering seeks to replace, engineer, or regenerate human cells, tissues, or organs using a wide range of technologies. The latter ranges from the development of novel biomaterial-based scaffolds to the use of gene therapy, stem cell technology and nanotechnology to optimize cell and drug delivery. Advances in all these fields will definitely benefit patients, clinicians and researchersalike. As an example of this expanding field, the biotech industry has already used regenerative medicine products in more than 300,000 patients.