WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration on Monday issued final guidelines about using embryonic stem cells in research, and at the same time, announced rules that are expected to make even more stem cell lines available for lab work, according to the Wall Street Journal Health blog. The guidelines take effect today.
Stem cells are primitive cells that can develop into many types of human tissue. Use of embryonic stem cells is controversial because the cells often come from human embryos, destroying them. Embryonic stem cells also can do unpredictable things — like grow into tumors instead of heart muscle. President Barack Obama made freeing up existing embryonic stem cell lines for research one of his commitments.
In the administration’s preliminary guidelines outlined by the National Institutes of Health in April, only stem cells from left-over embryos at fertility clinics that would have otherwise been discarded and that donors agreed to give would have been eligible for federal funding, the Journal said. Now, the administration is saying that hundreds of embryonic stem cell lines developed before the guidelines, as long at the cell lines were developed ethically, the Washington Post said.
That means use of some 700 embryonic stem cell lines in research now can receive federal funding. While use of embryonic stem cells was not prohibited by the Bush administration, federal funding for research was limited to a small number of cell lines, the Post said.
As expected, the move drew praise from advocates of stem cell research and bitter criticism from opponents. “These revised NIH policies, which make many more embryonic stem cell lines available to federally funded scientists, will dramatically accelerate progress in this field,” said Sean J. Morrison, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Stem Cell Biology, in a written statement. “I expect that most existing lines will be found to have been ethically derived … This will eventually make hundreds of new stem cell lines available for use by NIH-funded scientists.”
And the opposing view: “For the first time in history, the federal government will encourage the destruction of human life at a very early stage for federally funded research,” Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told the Washington Post. “These guidelines encourage researchers to go out and destroy embryos for taxpayer-funded research … You and I were once human embryos, and each embryo has the inherent potential to grow into you and me.”
Meanwhile, Stanford University School of Medicine thinks the new guidelines stop short of supporting two techniques to derive embyonic stem cells in animals. “The policy banning funding of other stem lines produced by transferring the genetic material from a patient to an egg is a terrible disappointment,” said Dr. Irving Weissman, a stem cell researcher at the school, in a written statement. “It seems inconsistent with the president’s promise to allow scientific facts to determine science policy.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Some lawmakers in states like Michigan and Ohio, however, are working according to their consciences to keep limits on embryonic stem cells used in research.
More stories worth a read:
- Cleveland research team learns a key secret about a protein that can promote or suppress spread of cancer (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- Obama health plan: Reform might be heavy on the Mayo (Investors Business Daily)
- Nation’s hospitals agree to forego $155 billion in revenue (Washington Post Daily Dose blog)
- Nationwide Children’s Hospital to open new Close to Home Center in Ironton, Ohio (Nationwide Children’s)
- Qliance raises $4 million to expand new primary care model, circumvent health insurers (Xconomy | Seattle)
- Excel Venture unveils $125 million fund to make life sciences ideas cross over to IT, energy (Xconomy | Boston)
- Economy forces most wired hospitals to look closely at IT spending( PRNewswire)
- Ex-insiders lobby on health care (Washington Post/Indiapolis Star)
- Lilly drug gets OK (Indianapolis Star)
- Cord Blood America secures $7.5 million investment for Series A preferred stock (PRNewswire)
- The Fraser Institute: U.S. medical bankruptcies a myth; personal bankruptcy rate higher in Canada (BusinessWire)
- Cadence, Aiming to reduce narcotics use in hospitals, gears up to market IV pain reliever (Xconomy | San Diego)
- OhioHealth buys Millhon Clinic (Business First of Columbus)
