[Perspectives] Cell-Based Therapeutics: The Next Pillar of Medicine

Sci Transl Med 3 April 2013:
Vol. 5, Issue 179, p. 179ps7
Sci. Transl. Med. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3005568 INNOVATION Michael A. Fischbach1, 2,*, Jeffrey A. Bluestone3 and Wendell A. Lim1,4,5,*

1UCSF Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

2Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

3Diabetes Center and the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.

4Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

5Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. ?*Corresponding author. E-mail: fischbach{at}fischbachgroup.org (M.A.F.); lim{at}cmp.ucsf.edu (W.A.L.) Two decades ago, the pharmaceutical industry—long dominated by small-molecule drugs—was revolutionized by the the advent of biologics. Today, biomedicine sits on the cusp of a new revolution: the use of microbial and human cells as versatile therapeutic engines. Here, we discuss the promise of this “third pillar” of therapeutics in the context of current scientific, regulatory, economic, and perceptual challenges. History suggests that the advent of cellular medicines will require the development of a foundational cellular engineering science that provides a systematic framework for safely and predictably altering and regulating cellular behaviors.

Copyright © 2013, American Association for the Advancement of ScienceCitation: M. A. Fischbach, J. A. Bluestone, W. A. Lim, Cell-Based Therapeutics: The Next Pillar of Medicine. Sci. Transl. Med. 5, 179ps7 (2013).

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