Regenerative medicine today is like the internet in 1993

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Robin Smith is the co-founder CEO of ORIG3N, a regenerative medical company that has crowdsourced blood samples to create the world’s biggest and most diverse bio-repository.

According to Smith, regenerative medicine is the next big thing in medical science — so disruptive, in fact, that he says it’s akin to the Internet in 1993.

No wonder, then, that ORIG3N has already raised over $15 million with the last December’s $15 million round from healthcare specialists Hatteras Venture Partners and Syno Capital.

Given all the recent controversy over Theranos, the issue of the regulation of regenerative medicine is, of course, really salient.

But according to Smith, we don’t need massive new regulation for an revolutionary industry that can potentially enable the creation of more personalized and cost effective drugs. Indeed, he says that 20th century regulation from above featuring traditional FDA processes doesn’t work anymore.

Instead, he says, we should learn from Japan, which has pioneered a light touch style of regulation built especially around this new technology. Education is important too, Smith insists, for introducing regenerative medicine to both the public and to government. As well as the creation of a healthy ecosystem to drive medical innovation.

As always, many thanks to the folks at CALinnovates for their help in the production of this interview.