Hey all, I was wondering which of these two would help ENS patients the most: mucosal tissue engineering (attempted in some labs already) or turbinate reconstruction with bone or cartilage engineering? (No group works on that I think)
I hope posting this here is okay:
Currently, the FDA is a bit undecided wether 3D tissue engineered products/bioprinting fall under biological therapies or devices. This ambiguity makes it hard for funders and biotech company to predict costs for regulatory approval.
The result: companies prefer injectables over tissue engineered products, even if the latter group may improve quality of life more based on test results.
The Hopewell foundation (I'm not associated with them, but definitely support their goals) is gathering signatures for nasal reconstruction, particularly for cartilage/bone/ skin and mucosa (to restore nasal anatomy to the original shapes (to restore the way air is warmed/moistened and flows), rather than mimicking shape with rib grafts), which may aid turbinate reconstruction too. The nasal mucosa can be engineered in the lab, and may also help solve ENS for some patients too.
If interested, help sign this petition, and perhaps more clarity for tissue engineering regulations will be achieved, and perhaps exceptions for nasal surgery will be created (since rib grafts are the only reconstructive option, with tons of cons, and for ENS, no real treatment exists).
Signing here!
https://www.change.org/p/citizen-petition-on-regenerative-cartilage-and-bone-in-nasal-reconstruction
You can also sign without a public declaration (so name is kept hidden, and does not show up as "X just signed").
(also if you are just a reader and not a Reddit member, or want there to be options like this, please sign!)