It would still cost money to have this kind of treatment, regardless of whether the treatment protocol / product was patented or not. this is not the crux the of the matter at all.
"this is not the crux the of the matter at all"
Yes it is... The money to be made is through drugs. In order to market a drug, you must be able to mass produce it. You cant do that if the treatment has to be customized for each patient.
And not only to have this kind of treatment but to develop it - who's going to pay for the expensive r&d the safety trials and efficacy studies etc if the use of the patients own cells isnt somehow remunerative to those underwriting the research?
What will be required to take adult stem cell 'cures' from academic to practical application? Surely good cures if they are on the horizon should be encouraged to come ASAP but how can we make sure they will? I can't imagine anyone really would want to have to use embryonic stem cells if there is a better alternative using adult stem cells from the patients themselves?
Or is that too naive?