Major Setback For Stem Cell Research

[5stringJeff]

Major Setback For Stem Cell Research
January 24, 2005

Human embryonic stem cell research in the United States has been hit with a major setback as researchers report all federally approved stem cell lines are contaminated with a foreign molecule from mice.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, say the contamination may make them risky for use in humans.

http://www.healthtalk.ca/stem_cell_research_012405_37892.php

 

[Joz]

This really sucks. What are the chances of them being able to get the cells they need? How long will it take? What channels will they have to go thu?

 

[hylandrdet]

Major Setback For Stem Cell Research
January 24, 2005

Human embryonic stem cell research in the United States has been hit with a major setback as researchers report all federally approved stem cell lines are contaminated with a foreign molecule from mice.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, say the contamination may make them risky for use in humans.

http://www.healthtalk.ca/stem_cell_research_012405_37892.php

Yes! Let's stop stem cell research over this debacle! While we're at it, let's stop NASA from launching space shuttles because of the Challenger and Columbia disasters!

BRILLANT!!!

Yes, that is sarcasm!

 

[dilloduck]

Yes! Let's stop stem cell research over this debacle! While we're at it, let's stop NASA from launching space shuttles because of the Challenger and Columbia disasters!

BRILLANT!!!

Yes, that is sarcasm!

Wrong spin----means we should get from fetuses

 

[Zhukov]

Human embryonic stem cell research in the United States has been hit with a major setback as researchers report all federally approved stem cell lines are contaminated with a foreign molecule from mice.

Where were they storing them? In a hole in the wall?

I heard this on the radio and I thought the reporter said mites which was understandable; but mice?

Think maybe some health inspectors might like to have a look at that particular facility....

 

[hylandrdet]

Wrong spin----means we should get from fetuses

Right spin. It means that we should advance the technology regardless of its perils. It has been a well acknowleged fact that the pursuit for further knowledge cannot come without a price.

Why are you so willing to send a LIVE soldier off to DIE in Iraq, in order to save the lives of the Iraqis, yet you hesitate to sacrifice a DEAD fetus, in order to save the LIVES of us all?

Sounds like your priorities are "Bass-ackwards"

 

[Polystyrate]

If we stop stem cell research or make it unworthwhile to pursue in the united states then it will be a boon for what ever country does embrace the research (looks like the UK) and the US will fall behind on a technology that has the possability to forever change our world.

 

[no1tovote4]

Wrong spin----means we should get from fetuses

We were happy to donate Umbilical Cells from both of our daughters to this research. They could also get stem cells from fetuses without killing the fetus if some people are willing to donate them during pregnancy. The assumption seems to be that it is an all or nothing game but it isn't.

I can't believe that they "accidentally" did this to every single line. I wonder if they are not attempting to force the hand of the administration.

 

[Bonnie]

We were happy to donate Umbilical Cells from both of our daughters to this research. They could also get stem cells from fetuses without killing the fetus if some people are willing to donate them during pregnancy. The assumption seems to be that it is an all or nothing game but it isn't.

I can't believe that they "accidentally" did this to every single line. I wonder if they are not attempting to force the hand of the administration.

I agree with this 100%.....Stem cells can come from live people and are just as effective and plentiful in supply.

The False Sell on Stem Cells
Experiments with embryonic stem cells have been unsuccessful, while adult stem cells have already led to cures.

By Charles Colson



August 12, 2004--There is a ban on stem cell research—or at least that’s what we hear. But that’s only a half truth. Contrary to media reports and political speeches, like Ron Reagan’s, the real facts are, first, the ban covers only federal funding of research, and second, it bans federal funding only for embryonic stem cell research. States and private sources are free to fund whatever stem cell research they choose.
Stem cells are “master cells of the body.” One researcher compares them to “a packet of magic seeds that, depending on where they were planted, could grow into carrots, broccoli, corn, or cabbage.” Implant them into the various organs of the body and, at least theoretically, stem cells can develop into any one of the 210 different types of bodily tissue. They will probably change medicine at least as much as antibiotics did sixty years ago.

My friend Dr. David Stevens, Executive Director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association, identifies at least five sources. First are embryonic stem cells, harvested from a developing human seven to ten days after fertilization. Second are fetal stem cells, often taken from tissues that would have developed into the ovaries or testes of aborted fetuses. Both of these sources involve harvesting stem cells by destroying a human life before birth, the kind of research that will not—and should not—receive federal funding.

But we don’t have to kill one person to cure another. The three remaining sources of stem cells present no ethical problems whatsoever. The first source is adults. Dr. Stevens observes, “Tissues, like bone marrow, lung, pancreas, brain, breast, fat, skin, and even tooth pulp . . . contain stem cells that have been isolated.” Two other legitimate sources are newborns and their mothers: Stem cells are in umbilical cord blood and in the placenta, or “afterbirth,” that is discarded after delivery.

And we don’t have to sacrifice medical effectiveness to satisfy pro-life scruples. In a July 11 op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, my colleague Dr. Nigel Cameron observes that “private investors have already decided [embryonic stem cell research] is worthless.” Animal experiments with embryonic stem cells “have been remarkably unsuccessful, because the embryo stem cells have a nasty habit of causing tumors.” By contrast, adult stem cells have “already led to cures for what had been incurable diseases.”

Cameron and his colleague Jennifer Lahl decry a California ballot initiative, Proposition 71, which would borrow three billion dollars to fund research on embryonic stem cells. He notes advocates are trying to get public funds because private investors understand the futility. "California’s business community has already made up its mind. If it believed the hype of those behind the proposition, it would be pouring funds into the field in the expectation of reaping vast profits. Instead, it has already voted with its feet."

So when you hear all the talk about the virtues of embryonic stem cells and how the government has banned research, remember that stem cells from non-embryonic sources are already curing patients. And embryonic stem cells aren’t working. You won’t hear it in the media, but we don’t have to kill one human to cure another.


Success in Converting Adult Stem Cells into Insulin-Producing Cells Triggers Agreement Expansion
05 Jan 2005





Cell therapy developer PharmaFrontiers Corp. (OTCBBFTR) has expanded its intellectual property position underlying its stem cell technology by entering into an Amended and Restated License Agreement with the University of Chicago. This license relates to stem cell technology discovered at The Department of Energy's Office of Science Laboratory, Argonne National Lab. The initial Argonne research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

"This revised license reflects new knowledge gained by the inventors in the ten months since our initial agreement was signed, and establishes the framework for our ongoing efforts to commercialize the technology," said PharmaFrontiers' CEO David McWilliams.

The February, 2004 license agreement between PharmaFrontiers and the University of Chicago called for PharmaFrontiers to transfer additional shares of stock to the University upon achievement of certain lab testing results at Argonne National Laboratory regarding stem cells.

The license amendment and recent success in demonstrating differentiation of human peripheral monocyte-derived stem cells (MDSCs) into insulin-producing cells triggered the transfer of a total of 242,688 PharmaFrontiers common shares to the University of Chicago.

"The ability to replace failed pancreatic beta cells with adult stem cell-derived substitutes, if ultimately shown to be effective in humans, could lead to a new approach to the prevention and treatment of diabetes, a major public health problem that afflicts more than 18 million Americans," McWilliams said.

The Amended and Restated License Agreement, as well as the original agreement, grants PharmaFrontiers an exclusive right to technology relating to isolating adult pluripotent stem cells from human peripheral blood, using the stem cells to treat a wide variety of diseases as well as in diagnostic tests, therapeutics, and storing stem cells.

The revised agreement provides for PharmaFrontiers to pay the University of Chicago an execution fee, milestone payments, minimum royalties, a running royalty on sales and a share of sublicensing fees.

PharmaFrontiers will be obligated to issue additional shares of its common stock to the University of Chicago upon the later of November 30, 2005 or completion of an anticipated financing of $10 million or more, so that upon issuance the University of Chicago will hold 2.6% of PharmaFrontiers' shares.

In addition, under the revised license agreement, PharmaFrontiers must spend a minimum of $2 million on related research and development by February 2006, and an additional $4 million on related research and development by February 2008.

About PharmaFrontiers

PharmaFrontiers' strategy is to develop and commercialize cell therapies to treat several major disease areas such as cardiac and pancreatic conditions and Multiple Sclerosis. The company holds the exclusive worldwide license from the University of Chicago through its prime contractor relationship with Argonne National Laboratory for patents relating to the use of adult pluripotent stem cells derived from patients' own circulating blood. PharmaFrontiers also owns patented and proprietary individualized cell therapies that are in FDA Phase I/II human dose ranging clinical trials to evaluate their safety and effectiveness in treating MS.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements about PharmaFrontiers' growth and future operating results, discovery and development of products, strategic alliances and intellectual property, as well as other matters that are not historical facts or information. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current assumptions and expectations and involve risks, uncertainties and other important factors, specifically including those relating to PharmaFrontiers' ability to obtain additional funding, develop its stem cell technologies, achieve its operational objectives, and obtain patent protection for its discoveries, that may cause PharmaFrontiers' actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

PharmaFrontiers undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

KEYWORDS: Health & Medical, Finance, Stem Cells, NIH, Houston, Texas
COMPANIES: PharmaFrontiers Corp. (OTCBBFTR)

Tom Sommers
Sommers & Associates
3200 Southwest Freeway, Suite 3300
Houston, Texas 77027
(713) 222-1600 ph
(713) 222-8100 fx
[email protected]

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