The evolution of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) illustrates the development of a minimal culture expansion process. In the late 1970’s, the first IVF was performed. In the 1990’s, in an effort to improve conception outcomes, fertility specialists elected to extend the cell culture time. Specifically they extended cell culture to the blastocyst stage which is a more mature developmental phase. In doing so, the fertility specialists transitioned In-Vitro Feritlization from a simple tissue transplant to a cell culture technique. These specialist maintain that their cell culture techniques are the practice of medicine and not the production of biologic drugs. No parents who have undergone IVF, think of their daughters or sons as biologic drugs, do they?
Adult, autologous stem cell therapy was found itself on a similar path. In an effort to optimize clinical outcomes, some practices expand a patients’ own stem cells thereby increasing the total number of cells available. Expansion takes 12-14 days and is conducted in a state of the art cell culture lab. No growth hormone or exogenous products are used to increase the cell count.