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When Americans think about competition with China, they usually think about artificial intelligence, semiconductors, or advanced manufacturing. Yet another strategic race is quietly underway — one that could prove just as consequential to America’s economy, healthcare system, and national security: regenerative medicine.
For decades, the United States has been the world’s unquestioned leader in biomedical research. American universities, biotechnology companies, physicians, and entrepreneurs have produced many of the medical breakthroughs that transformed modern healthcare. But leadership is never guaranteed. It must be continually earned.
Today, China is investing aggressively in biotechnology, including regenerative medicine and advanced botanical research. Beijing has directed hundreds of billions of dollars toward strategic technologies, including biotechnology, as part of its long-term industrial policy to strengthen China’s global competitiveness. Regenerative medicine is a central component of that strategy. America should not seek to replicate another country’s regulatory system, but we should recognize the urgency with which our competitors are investing in the future of healthcare.
This is about far more than scientific prestige.
The economic stakes are enormous. The global regenerative medicine market is projected to grow from approximately $58 billion in 2025 to more than $360 billion by 2034, making it one of the fastest-growing sectors in healthcare. Leadership in this industry will determine not only where breakthrough therapies are developed, but also where high-value manufacturing, intellectual property, investment, and skilled jobs are created.
America already possesses extraordinary advantages. We have the world’s premier academic medical centers, unmatched scientific talent, a dynamic biotechnology sector, and the deepest venture capital markets. What we increasingly lack is the ability to translate promising discoveries into approved therapies quickly enough to remain globally competitive.
The lesson from Operation Warp Speed should not be forgotten. Government, academia, physicians, and private industry demonstrated what can be accomplished when America aligns behind a common goal while maintaining rigorous scientific standards and removing unnecessary bottlenecks.
That same spirit should now be applied to regenerative medicine.
President Donald Trump and this administration are uniquely positioned to create an “Operation Warp Speed” for regenerative medicine, which would NOT mean lowering FDA standards or sacrificing patient safety. It would mean modernizing clinical trial pathways, expanding translational research, supporting domestic manufacturing, improving reimbursement for validated therapies, and creating predictable regulatory pathways for emerging technologies.
Advances in regenerative medicine increasingly include biomaterials, tissue engineering, cellular therapies, and biobotanical science — technologies designed to work with the body’s own repair mechanisms rather than simply suppress symptoms. Instead of treating disease only after irreversible damage has occurred, these approaches seek to restore healthy tissue function and support the body’s natural ability to heal.
Regenerative technologies may ultimately improve treatment for diabetic wounds, burns, pressure injuries, inflammatory diseases, military medicine, veteran healthcare, and numerous chronic conditions that account for a significant share of healthcare spending.
For policymakers focused on reducing costs while improving outcomes, these advances deserve serious attention.
The United States spends nearly $5 trillion annually on healthcare — about 17% of the nation’s gross domestic product — more than any other country in the world. Yet much of that spending is devoted to managing chronic illness rather than restoring health.
If regenerative therapies can reduce complications, accelerate healing, or delay disease progression, the economic benefits could be substantial for patients, employers, insurers, and taxpayers alike. This aligns naturally with the administration’s goal of Make America Healthy Again, by accelerating American innovations that restore health and improve quality of life.
America’s biotechnology leadership has always depended on a partnership between scientific discovery, entrepreneurial risk-taking, and smart public policy. That formula built one of the world’s most innovative industries. It can do so again.
The next medical revolution has already begun. The question is not whether regenerative medicine will transform healthcare. It is whether those breakthroughs will be discovered, manufactured, commercialized, and exported by American companies — or by our global competitors.
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The United States still has every ingredient necessary to lead this revolution. But leadership cannot be assumed. It must be built through investment, modern regulation, scientific excellence, and a national commitment to ensuring that the next generation of medical innovation is developed first in America.
The race is already underway. America should not be watching from the sidelines — we should be setting the pace.
Dr. Roberta Shapiro is Chief Medical Officer at Crescel LLC, which led a breakthrough randomized, double-blind clinical trial published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology demonstrating that their proprietary biobotanical formulation outperformed the current prescription standard of care for rosacea. Dr. Shapiro is also Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia Medical Center’s Department of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine.
