The bioeconomies of stem cell research

This chapter explores the implication of stem cell research bioeconomies. It starts by defining the notion of bioeconomy and the main ways in which value is produced in the commercial exploitation of biomedicine and biotechnologies –commodification of biological materials, assetization of knowledge and capacities of biotech enterprises, exploitation of the labour of tissue donors. It then analyses how value is generated in existing configurations of stem cell biobanking through two paradigmatic cases. In the first, cord blood banking, I explore how commodification and assetization are produced both in the public and private sector and their hybrid configurations. In the second, the economy of hESC lines circulation, I analyse how national regulations (in the USA, UK, and Germany) about hESC research shape the emerging market, influencing the dynamics of commodification and assetization, and the creation of dominant market positions. Finally, I critically discuss tissue donor involvement, showing that the emerging market configurations entail ethical and social issues – related to exploitation of donors and the unfair distribution or sharing of the resulting benefits and economic profits – that are at the very core of the stem cell bioeconomy.