One year on from the publication of the Regenerative Medicines Expert Group (RMEG) Report in 2015, a report detailing progress against the recommendations of RMEG, authored by the Chief Executives of key delivery organisations is published.
George Freeman, Minister for Life Sciences, asked CEOs of key delivery organisations to monitor the implementation of the reports 20 recommendations to enable routine use of regenerative medicine and advanced therapies in the NHS and to provide and annual report on progress. The organisations involved in the report included, the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, NHS England, NHS Blood and Transplant, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, Human Tissue Authority, NICE and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
To read the report click here.
The overall conclusions are that considerable progress has been made in the last year. Several areas are highlighted that show regenerative therapies are now beginning to show significant clinical potential and that there has been rapid expansion in the sector in the UK.
These include new initiatives that have been set up to address barriers and issues that were identified by the group. For example creating a one-stop-shop, single point of access regulatory advice service to address the level of uncertainty regarding the regulation and approval process for these advanced therapies.
Keith Thompson, CEO of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and a co-author of the report said:
“Regenerative medicine is a successful example of coordinated Government involvement which has helped to accelerate the development of a new UK industrial sector that can deliver health and wealth for the UK. The overall picture for regenerative medicine in the UK is extremely positive and the pace of progress suggests that the next few years will see the clinical impact of these therapies expand rapidly.”
In addition to the work directly responding to the RMEG recommendations there are other significant initiatives contributing to the overall landscape such as the UK Regenerative Medicine platform (UKRMP) a cross disciplinary initiative from the Research Councils along with focused support for commercialisation from Innovate UK.
Building upon this progress the recently formed Advanced Therapies Task Force is examining what more can be done to foster growth in manufacturing these innovative therapies and this report is expected to support that work.