The Current State of Manufacturing Human Organs

Thirteen. The number of people that die each day waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant. $5 billion. The cost to create a new drug. $3 billion plus. The amount invested in engineered tissue and organ research by the Federal government in a three year period. Zero. The number of organs currently being manufactured by US industries for transplant. 322,762,018. The number of Americans in 2016 that could benefit from the Department of Defense's new Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ATB-MII). The Department of Defense has been interested in engineering organs, tissues and limbs for decades as a means of treating its wounded soldiers. The number of veterans in need of tissue repair and limb replacement has skyrocketed in the 21st century, due primarily to the recent and pervasive use of improvised explosive devices, coupled with dramatic improvements in body armor that save lives but not without sacrifice. Meanwhile, the need is equally as strong in the civilian world, where hundreds of thousands of Americans wait on organ transplant lists living day-by-day in fear of what the future holds. Many wonder: "Why can't we manufacture organs TODAY?" The charge is not new, nor will it fade in the coming years. It rises from the halls of Congress. It mingles with tears in homes across our nation. It echoes down hospital hallways and lingers in operating rooms. As a DoD scientist working in the field of biofabrication and tissue engineering for...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news