Cardiac Tissue Engineering
According to the American Heart Association, one in three deaths in the western world is caused by heart disease and with only 20,000 transplant hearts available each year, new treatment options are urgently needed. This market has huge revenue possibilities and has the potential to grow in excess of $10 billion by 2013. Stem cell and tissue engineering technology has applications over a wide range of diseases that the potential for this market will be immense. Undoubtedly, the medical use of stem cells will revolutionize medicine and any company that can successfully develop this technology will be guaranteed substantial financial rewards.
Because damaged heart cells do not normally regenerate, new heart cells must be introduced onto the damaged heart muscle to repair the damage. Heart tissue regeneration has emerged as an approach to replace or support the damaged heart tissue using stem cells. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the capability to develop into specialized cells once properly triggered. Alternatively, cardiomyocytes may be used in heart tissue engineering. The approach involves seeding cardiac cells onto a biomatrix scaffold for cell growth, similar to its proprietary ColActive TM. Although a great deal of research remains to be done, the approach is expected to address safe and effective cell therapy for patients with severe ischemic heart disease. The technique can be used to grow other tissues as well. The potential dollar volume for tissue engineering and organ regeneration represents multi-billion dollar opportunities. In the US the total market for all applications for tissue engineering and organ regeneration is $58 Billion (Medtech Insight Reports, Tissue Engineering and Cell Transplantation: Technologies, Opportunities and Evolving Markets, July 2004, 372 pp.). However, the current developing market is a fraction of that potential. 
