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 The investment, to be led by the Department of Defense, was
announced at a White House summit to discuss the role of science and
technology and innovation in organ transplantation.
It is designed to support technologies aimed at repairing and
replacing cells and tissues, Jeff Zients, director of the White
House National Economic Council told the meeting.
More than 120,000 people in the United States are on a donor waiting
list, Zients said. About 80 percent of the demand is for kidneys,
Zients said. End stage kidney failure costs Medicare, the federal
health insurance program for the elderly and people with end stage
renal disease, $34 billion a year.
That is more than 7 percent of the total Medicare budget, he added.
More than $160 million in public-private investment will go to a new
Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Manufacturing Innovation Institute to
help develop next-generation manufacturing techniques for cell
therapies. Among other investments, $7 million will be earmarked for
awards to small businesses working to advance the science of tissue
preservation.
The donor registration system was built in 1968. Speakers at the
summit discussed proposals for modernization, including easing the
process for registering to become an organ donor via a declaration
on social media.
Facebook, Tinder and Twitter are developing new tools to increase
donor registration options and have a goal of achieving 1 million
new registrations and social declarations by the end of 2016.
Dr. Timothy Pruett, the incoming president of the American Society
of Transplant Surgeons, said cutting wait times for transplanatable
organs is a multi-faceted challenge and that the White House
initiative, while a "great start," will almost certainly require
sustained additional efforts.
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"I appreciate the White House shining a spotlight on this critical
issue and look forward to seeing what the new collaborations it has
inspired will bring," he said.
Among those collaborations: Walter Reed National Military Medical
Center announced a pilot to help patients find hard to match
kidneys; and more than 30 transplant centers said they would share
data for hard to match kidney patients.
Last year there were more than 30,000 transplants in the United
States, the most annual transplants ever.
Additional "common-sense" steps to reduce the waiting list will be
provided within the next 180 days, the White House said.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Tom Brown and
Alan Crosby)
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