This is extracted from Osborne's speech today on science and its importance to the UK. This section is where he speaks about regenerative medicine. Note the comment at the end that there is news to come:
"The third technology I’d like to highlight is Regenerative Medicine.
Regenerative medicine is set to transform current clinical approaches to replacing or regenerating damaged human organs or tissue.
Drawing on research strengths in engineering, material and physical sciences as well as medicine, tissue engineering is the generation outside the body of a renewable source of transplantable tissue.
The UK retains a leading position in the science and commercial translation of regenerative medicine.
This comes from our cross-disciplinary research strengths and our well-balanced legislative and regulatory framework, which has been essential to building comparative advantage in this area, and attracting researchers from countries seen to have more restrictive regulations.
We have world-class research in centres such as Edinburgh (where Dolly the sheep was first cloned), Cambridge, Leeds, and London.
I recently opened the new £73 million Centre for Translational and Experimental Medicine on Imperial’s Hammersmith Campus.
This will house 450 scientists focusing on the translation of new discoveries into novel ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases.
We can grow new tissue and then remove distinctive features that cause rejection by the host so patients avoid having to spend the rest of their life time on drugs to combat tissue rejection.
Current estimates of the global regenerative medicine industry value it at just over £500 million, with forecast generating revenues of over £5 billion by 2021.
Last December, the Prime Minister launched the Government’s life sciences strategy, a detailed plan which is designed to ensure the UK continues to attract the world’s best academics and companies in all areas of the life sciences.
The Government has committed £40 million to deliver the Strategy for UK Regenerative Medicine.
Regenerative medicine is a priority area – and we will have more to say next month."
