2012 Newsletter: Four Years of the Spinal Cord Workshop

Since 2008, the Spinal Cord Workshop has brought together international leaders in surgery and basic science to debate and develop a list of the challenges to cures for spinal cord injury. The goal of the workshop is to develop a “white paper,” listing the obstacles.

The workshop has brought to light such problems as how researchers use animal models to test theories, how to measure outcomes from studies (i.e. what defines success?), and the distribution of funds.

Additionally, the researchers have pointed out a significant lack of corporate involvement because of the limited market size, considering that spinal cord injury, while devastating, effects only 11,000 new patients every year. Therefore, most corporations are unwilling to invest in SCI treatments, even if discoveries could cascade to help a host of other diseases in the future.