Though Vietnam started later than developed countries in applying stem cells for medicinal purposes, it has made significant progress in the field.
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| Vietnam tries stem cell therapy on 21 kinds of disease. |
Though Vietnam started later than developed countries in applying stem cells for medicinal purposes, it has made significant progress in the field.
Minister of Science & Technology Chu Ngoc Anh said at a conference recently that stem cell therapy has been applied to treat 21 types of diseases.
The stem cell transplantation to treat patients with malignant diseases has a high success rate of 70-80 percent.
MST (Ministry of Science & Technology) has launched a national program on utilizing stem cell therapy to treat diseases which don’t respond or respond poorly to normal treatment.
A report shows that the global market related to stem cell development in 2016 had value of $48 billion, while the figure is expected to reach $378 billion by 2025.
Vietna’s import of products and equipment related to stem cell-based therapy has been increasing rapidly in recent years.
According to Pham Van Phuc, head of the Stem Cell Institute, an arm of the HCMC National University, an online survey of 400 people found that many think treating cancer is the most important purpose of stem cell development. The second most important purpose is treating diabetes, they said.
The result shows quite a different picture with the rest of the world, where half of the stem cell market is used to treat cardiovascular diseases and in cosmetic treatments.
No legal document related to the field has been issued in Vietnam. The 2015 draft law on stem cells and blood mentions the issue but it has not been ratified.
Truong Dinh Kiet, chair of the HCMC Stem Cell Association, predicted that it would take at least five years for laws to be brought to life.
He said the potential of HCMC for stem cell research and development is great with nine hospitals, institutes and centers utilizing stem cell therapy in health care.
According to Pham Van Phuc from the HCMC Stem Cell Institute, the demand for using stem cell in disease treatment and aesthetics is very high. Fifty percent of polled people said Vietnam’s investment in stem cell research is inadequate.
Meanwhile, in the world, tens of stem cell products have been licensed, including products which bring revenue of $100 million a year.
Therefore, experts all agree that now is the right time for Vietnam to prepare human resources for the stem cell research and development.
Phuc believes that Vietnam needs to create training majors related to stem cell at higher education levels.
(Source: VNN)
