At present, with the rapid development of biological cell technology and related industries around the world, contemporary medicine is gradually shifting from the traditional treatment mode to the field of cell therapy. 

The "14th five-year Plan for Biological Economic Development" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission proposes that the development of biological economy should conform to the new trend of "taking disease treatment as the center" to "health as the center", and develop biomedicine oriented to the life and health of the people. to meet the people's new expectations for more secure life and health.

Cell therapy opens up new ideas for disease treatment. 

According to experts, cell therapy is a way to transplant or inject normal or bioengineered human cells into patients to replace the original damaged cells, or to play a stronger immune killing function, so as to achieve the purpose of treating diseases. 

Compared with traditional chemical drugs, cell therapy products have the characteristics of rapid technological iteration, great potential for innovation, high clinical dependence and personalized customization of products, and have very significant advantages compared with traditional large and small molecular drugs. it has become a "new track" for the layout of major developed countries.

At present, the main methods of cell therapy are divided into two categories: immune cell therapy and stem cell therapy. "taking osteoarthritis as an example, the occurrence of osteoarthritis is usually related to age, obesity, bone mineral density, joint structure, joint stress and other factors," Lu said.

The main purpose of traditional treatment is to reduce symptoms and improve joint function, but the effect on existing joint injury is limited. The strong self-renewal, proliferation and differentiation potential of stem cells can replace the damaged chondrocytes and make use of the homing properties of stem cells to actively migrate to the ischemic or damaged parts of cartilage under the action of microenvironment in vivo for repair and reconstruction. At the same time, through paracrine and autocrine synthesis of a variety of bioactive molecules (such as insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), etc.) to activate cells and vascular regeneration pathway, play a nutritional role in cartilage; it can also inhibit inflammatory cell mediators, reduce the destruction of bone, joint and synovium, and effectively control the development of the disease.

Policy support to help the cell industry drive into the "fast lane" 

In recent years, with the development of a new generation of technology and the advantages of related policies, China's cell therapy industry is showing a trend of vigorous development, and is expected to become a potential new track in the field of biomedicine. 

In recent years, the application research of cell therapy downstream has been highly valued by national and local governments, which has effectively promoted the transformation of cell therapy industry from upstream storage to downstream applications. "on the whole, the development goals of cell technology in China are mainly focused on technological research and development and transformation, the expansion of application fields, the establishment of industry standards, and so on." 

However, experts also say frankly that at present, China's cellular immunotherapy industry is developing rapidly, catching up with the international frontier. However, there is still a certain gap between China and advanced countries in terms of the quantity and quality of innovative enterprises and the number of approved products.