FIFTH IN A SERIES
BY DR. RICHARD MCFARLAND
CHIEF REGULATORY OFFICER, ARMI | BIOFABUSA
The RACER Blueprint is comprised of Five key factors, in addition to manufacturing, that are essential to a good idea making it from an academic achievement to part of a clinician’s armamenterium. They are as important as the scientific and engineering foundations of a TEMP (or other advanced therapy) with respect to full commercialization.
- Realistic Clinical Targets
- Accessible Capital
- Conducive Regulatory Strategy
- Expanding the Available Workforce
- Rational Reimbursement Environment
This blog post takes a deeper dive into the E of RACER – Expanding Available Workforce.
The mission of ARMI|BioFabUSA to make practical the scalable manufacturing of engineered tissues and tissue-related technologies, to benefit existing industries and grow new ones is, challenged by the lack of an adequate workforce. Although this is a common challenge for many STEM fields, the multidisciplinary nature of biofabrication means that there are many talented individuals in adjacent workforces that only require focused translational training to allow them to contribute to the multidisciplinary teams needed to create the new healing and curative industry of the 21st Century.
Targeted translational training will expand the available workforce in the near-term to meet the “industry start-up” needs. For long-term industry needs, the ARMI|BioFabUSA’ “K-Gray” approach to Education and Workforce Development provides resources for expanding the workforce for the future by engaging youth in diverse science/engineering programs that lead to a plethora of careers for all formal educational degree/certification levels. The K-Gray approach can also be applied to the “gray” end of the workforce. As a population, we are living longer, healthier lives and there will be both increased need for regenerative medicine products and for translational training for second or third careers. These are topics of both the National Academy of Medicine Annual Meeting and the current ARMI|BioFabUSA Education/Workforce Development Project Call released in the last two weeks.
