Sep 1, 2006: The exodus of stem cell research from the US has started. Geron, based in Menlo Park, California, has become the first company to step up its stem cell research efforts in the UK. The company made this announcement on August 7.

Ever since President Bush used his veto powers and rejected the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act in July 2006, which would have allowed the huge resources of US government to boost stem cell research, industry experts had been expecting slow down in US efforts. The new legislation had sought to fund research on all embryonic stem cells.

Under current regulations, US researchers can get funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct research on embryonic stem cells that are five years old in August 2001. Any cell derived beyond this date cannot be worked upon with federal government funds.

$65 billion European Bonanza: A week after the US decision, the European Union took a major boost to continue funding stem cell research. Though many member countries of EU opposed use of EU funds, a high level committee of EU decided to provide a significant part of the $65 billion funds allotted for scientific research up to 2013 for stem cell research too.

History of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer or Cloning

• In 1952, Briggs and King cloned tadpoles

• 1996: First mammal cloned from adult cells was Dolly, the sheep in the UK

• 1998: Mice cloned

• 2000: World’s first pig cloned

• 2001: First cat cloned

• 2002: First rabbit cloned

• 2003: Mules cloned

• 2004: Bulls cloned

The proposal to continue funding stem cell research in EU will go through some more rounds of approval by EU member countries and will come into effect by the end of 2006.

Of course, EU funds cannot be used in member countries like Germany, France, Ireland and Spain which have banned most forms of stem cell research. However, EU members like the UK, Sweden, Finland and Greece allow large scale research on stem cells harvested from “spare” embryos used in fertility research projects.

While announcing the decision EU Research Commissioner, Mr Philippe Busquin had stated that the aim was to stop a “brain drain” of the brightest scientists leaving Europe to work in countries like the US, Australia and Singapore.Now the Bush veto has helped the EU to actually attract top-level researchers, particularly in stem cell research.

Geron’s Importance: In this context, the top stem cell research, Geron, is an indicator of the trends in which way the researchers will move. Geron has set up a subsidiary Geron Bio-med Ltd in the UK and would soon start pre-clinical studies of its new drug application. The new drug involves the use of hepatocytes in the treatment of liver failure and osteoblans and chodrocytes to treat disorders like osteoarthritis, bone fractures and ostoporosis. The drugs were derived from human embryonic stem cells.

Geron will do further research work in collaboration with the Center for Regenerative Medicine which is headed by Dr Ian Wilmut, the developer of the world’s first cloned animal, Dolly, the Sheep. There are indications that many other top stem cell research companies may follow Geron into the UK. Other top companies like Advance Cell Technology, Massachussetts, may make similar moves.

This company already has a strong collaboration program with UK researchers like Dr Keith Campell. Advanced Cell Technology may even start a subsidiary in the UK to increase stem cell research efforts in
Europe.

US Move Stymies Stem Cell Research: Funds from the NIH have played a key role in the growth of modern pharmaceutical therapies and products in the last four decades. The pharma and biotech industries depend a lot on the cutting edge work done by thousands of researchers using NIH funds. Hundreds of collaborative programs between industry and academia spur the growth of new medicines. NIH funded nearly $29 billion for medical research in 2005.

Cutting edge stem cell therapies will be deprived of these crucial funds.

• For instance, Dr Douglas Kerr at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA has apparently managed to partially restore movement in paralyzed rates treated with nerve cells derived from embryonic stem cells. Now he cannot continue the work due to the new restrictions on the use of NIH funds.
• Dr Dougla Melton, at Harvard University has produced 28 new stem cell lines, but these not eligible for NIH funds as it was done beyond the August 2001 cut- off date for eligibility.
• A study in April 2006 showed that the share of research publications in stem cell research from the US has decreased from 36 percent of all publications in 2001 to 26 percent in 2001. The study was done by biologist, Dr Jennifer McCormick at Stanford University and sociologist Dr Jason Owen-Smith at Michigan University. The study was published in the journal, Nature.
• Another study in Nature Biotechnology in July showed that nearly 15 percent of the top stem cell researchers in the US have received lucrative offers from European institutions. This rate was five times more than that for other biologists.

As Europe attracts stem cell researchers, Asian countries like India, China, Singapore and Korea have the potential to become the new centers of research in this area. They all have comprehensive guidelines in place and have no dogmatic policies to thwart stem cell research. The stem cell research is indeed in a state of flux.