Stem Cell Articles - Page 152

manouli · 03-19-2008, 04:53 PM

Stem Cell Technology Offers Promise of Huge Savings for Drug Developers

Posted : Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:34:14 GMT

NEW YORK, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 90% of drugs entering clinical development fail to get to market, due to the lack of effectiveness or adverse side effects not detected in animal tests. These false positives could be avoided with pre-clinical tests using stem cell technologies, potentially saving drug developers millions, according to Kalorama Information's new report Stem Cells: Worldwide Markets for Transplantation, Cord Blood Banking and Drug Development

The discovery and commercialization of a new drug costs in excess of $1 billion and requires more than 14 years. Early toxicity testing is a particular problem, since there are currently no good models for determining whether a drug will be toxic in humans. Some unsafe products advance through testing and approval, only to be pulled from the market later at a huge expense, as was the case with Vioxx and Bextra.

Though stem cell-based drug development technologies are in an early stage of development, and will most likely not become available before 2012 at the earliest, their prospects are promising.

more...

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/s...2C321328.shtml

manouli · 03-19-2008, 05:01 PM

Midlander donates stem cells to 13-year-old boy
By Tony Lascari
03/18/2008
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
Ian Wenger knows the power one person can make in another person's life.

The Midland resident recently donated stem cells to help a boy he has never met.

"All I know is he's a 13-year-old boy," Wenger said. "They aren't able to tell me anything in the first year about it. They're not even able to tell me where he's from."

Wenger signed up for the bone marrow donation registry while attending Delta College. Last fall he was contacted because he matched a child who needed stem cells. On Jan. 30, he traveled to Grand Rapids to make the donation.

"It's an opportunity to help somebody," he said. "It's not like it takes a lot of time or effort on our part. It's an easy process that can save their life."

Barbara Hile, director of the Michigan Community Blood Centers marrow/stem cell program, said stem cells are usually used for people with leukemia or cancers of the blood who have suppressed immune systems due to cancer treatments.

Stem cell donors take a medication for five days prior to donating that causes white cells to increase more abundantly in a short period of time. Those cells are than collected by drawing blood from one arm, separating what is needed and returning the remaining blood components to the other arm.

"Those stem cells are packaged up in our lab and we transport them, actually physically taking them in a cooler and flying them to the transplant center," Hile said.

The cells are then transfused into the patient, whose immune system can use the cells to rebuild itself after chemotherapy and radiation.

more...

http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news....d=513237&rfi=6

manouli · 03-19-2008, 05:11 PM

Stem cell firm looks elsewhere as US delays tests

Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:23 AM GMT

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - British stem cell pioneer ReNeuron Group Plc (RQE.L: Quote, Profile , Research) is looking elsewhere to test its experimental stroke treatment ReN001, following a series of delays in the United States, it said on Wednesday.

The problems faced by the small biotech firm highlight the wider difficulties of commercialising the promise of stem cells, "master cells" in the body that scientists hope to coax into repairing damaged tissue.

ReNeuron has been waiting more than a year for a green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, gatekeeper of the world's biggest drugs markt, that would allow it to start a Phase I clinical trial of ReN001.

more......

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/arti...S-RENEURON.XML

manouli · 03-20-2008, 09:53 AM

Family of Three Americans Become Pain Free and Improve Their Quality of Life With Stem Cell Treatment in Mexico

Thursday March 20, 8:36 am ET

MONTERREY, Mexico, March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimum Health Regeneration Center announced the successful treatment of an American family treated for pain management and impaired mobility. This New Mexico family, ranging in age from 52 to 78, all recorded significant improvements in reduced pain, increased physical mobility and in their quality of life after receiving treatment with umbilical cord stem cells and ozone therapy at one of the participating Optimum Health Clinics in Monterrey, Mexico. Details can be found on the website, http://www.stemcellmexico.com.

In January 2008, Steve Aguilar, a concrete construction company owner, from New Mexico just couldn't take it any more. The pain in his knees, particular the right knee, was getting unbearable. He was limping and having a hard time walking and being on his feet while servicing his customers.

more.........

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080320/neth034.html?.v=45

manouli · 03-20-2008, 09:57 AM

New stem cell variety found in menstrual blood

By Terri Somers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 20, 2008

A startup stem cell company with part of its operations in San Diego has discovered a new type of stem cell in menstrual blood, a finding that might allow researchers to avoid the medical and ethical issues surrounding the use of human embryonic stem cells.

AdvertisementMedistem Laboratories said these new cells are more like human embryonic stem cells than most so-called adult stem cells because they can turn into nine tissue types in the body. They also can replicate themselves faster than other adult stem cell types, giving them the potential to be banked and creating the possibility of a plentiful supply of cells for therapies, said Thomas Ichim, the company's new chief executive.

more...

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/b...0medistem.html

manouli · 03-20-2008, 10:25 AM

Thursday Mar 20

Forum focuses on stem cells

Scientists discuss the potential change in federal policy

By Lisa M. Krieger / Bay Area News Group

Hundreds of embryonic stem cell lines that provide hope for treating devastating disorders such as sickle cell anemia and Down syndrome are available for research but are off-limits to federal scientists because of White House restrictions, scientists said Wednesday.

But, the scientists said at a conference in Half Moon Bay, a change in policy after next November's presidential election could make the cells available quickly.

The three presidential candidates - Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrats Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama - all support expanded federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. Their actions would lift a restriction imposed by President Bush in 2001 that limits federally funded research to fewer than two dozen embryonic stem cell lines.

"The rubber could hit the road within months," said Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health. "It's not rocket science. We know how to do it."

Wednesday's first-ever conference of the Global Forum of the International Society for Stem Cell Research brought together experts to survey the current state of stem cell science. Although the conference was closed to the media, participants shared their hopes for expanded research at a news conference.

Embryonic stem cells have the unique ability to be converted into almost any type of cell found in the body, holding out hope that they can be used to treat everything from severed spines to diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. But a significant minority of Americans believe that using the cells for research and to treat disease is immoral because extracting the cells destroys the embryos.

Stem cell advocates, however, counter that the embryos come from fertility clinics, which routinely throw thousands of embryos each year into the trash as medical waste.

more.....

http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/art...-smc-stem-cell

manouli · 03-20-2008, 10:39 AM

Unproven Stem-Cell Treatments Spur Research Group Guidelines

By Rob Waters

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- An international group of scientists is establishing guidelines for stem-cell therapies because clinics in China, Costa Rica and Barbados are using unproven treatments on sick patients.

``If you go online, you can find dozens of sites that offer unproved therapies,'' George Daley, a researcher with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said at a press conference in Half Moon Bay, California.

The society will draft the guidelines, which may be completed by year's end, members said. About 30 scientists, investors and government officials affiliated with the group gathered yesterday in this coastal town south of San Francisco for a daylong meeting aimed at better coordinating the quickening pace of stem cell research.

The risk of some of the treatments being offered ``is that patients and their relatives who are desperate may lose a lot of money'' on treatments ``that have no scientific or clinical basis,'' said Olle Lindvall, a researcher at the University of Lund in Sweden who is chairing the task force.

The patients could suffer dangerous side effects from the treatments, such as developing tumors, Lindvall said. Injuries to patients could also tarnish the field of legitimate stem-cell research and hold back scientific advances, he said.

U.S. Policy

Story Landis, chief of the Stem Cell Task Force for the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said government officials could prepare in a matter of months to start funding research into embryonic stem cells after President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Bush has restricted the use of federal dollars to conduct research on cells derived from days-old embryos because the embryos are destroyed in the process.

Embryonic cells are valued because they have the ability to turn into any of the roughly 210 cell types found in the human body. Scientists and patients hope the cells may one day be used to treat incurable conditions such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal cord injury.

more....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...k10&refer=home

Norm · 03-20-2008, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manouli

Unproven Stem-Cell Treatments Spur Research Group Guidelines

By Rob Waters

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- An international group of scientists is establishing guidelines for stem-cell therapies because clinics in China, Costa Rica and Barbados are using unproven treatments on sick patients.

``If you go online, you can find dozens of sites that offer unproved therapies,'' George Daley, a researcher with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said at a press conference in Half Moon Bay, California.

The society will draft the guidelines, which may be completed by year's end, members said. About 30 scientists, investors and government officials affiliated with the group gathered yesterday in this coastal town south of San Francisco for a daylong meeting aimed at better coordinating the quickening pace of stem cell research.

The risk of some of the treatments being offered ``is that patients and their relatives who are desperate may lose a lot of money'' on treatments ``that have no scientific or clinical basis,'' said Olle Lindvall, a researcher at the University of Lund in Sweden who is chairing the task force.

The patients could suffer dangerous side effects from the treatments, such as developing tumors, Lindvall said. Injuries to patients could also tarnish the field of legitimate stem-cell research and hold back scientific advances, he said.

U.S. Policy

Story Landis, chief of the Stem Cell Task Force for the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said government officials could prepare in a matter of months to start funding research into embryonic stem cells after President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Bush has restricted the use of federal dollars to conduct research on cells derived from days-old embryos because the embryos are destroyed in the process.

Embryonic cells are valued because they have the ability to turn into any of the roughly 210 cell types found in the human body. Scientists and patients hope the cells may one day be used to treat incurable conditions such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal cord injury.

more....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...k10&refer=home

Its about time.

Plus I can't wait until Bush is out!

Lindox · 03-20-2008, 05:33 PM

Excellent! And what a fabulous place to have a meeting.

Leo · 03-21-2008, 11:53 AM

two paragraphs from below,

if true, thanks to all that went overseas

-----------------------
An international group of scientists is establishing guidelines for stem-cell therapies BECAUSE clinics in China, Costa Rica and Barbados are using unproven treatments on sick patients.

``If you go online, you can find dozens of sites that offer unproved therapies,'' George Daley, a researcher with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said at a press conference in Half Moon Bay, California.

The society will draft the guidelines, which may be completed by year's end, members said. About 30 scientists, investors and government officials affiliated with the group gathered yesterday in this coastal town south of San Francisco for a daylong meeting aimed at better coordinating the quickening pace of stem cell research.

U.S. Policy

Story Landis, chief of the Stem Cell Task Force for the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said government officials could prepare in a matter of months to start funding research into embryonic stem cells after President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Bush has restricted the use of federal dollars to conduct research on cells derived from days-old embryos because the embryos are destroyed in the process.

03-20-2008, 05:33 PM	#1519
Lindox Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: USA Posts: 9,025	Excellent! And what a fabulous place to have a meeting. __________________ Life isn't about getting thru the storm but learning to dance in the rain.

03-21-2008, 11:53 AM	#1520
Leo Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Yankton, South Dakota Posts: 3,950	so it took that to get them to act two paragraphs from below, if true, thanks to all that went overseas ----------------------- An international group of scientists is establishing guidelines for stem-cell therapies BECAUSE clinics in China, Costa Rica and Barbados are using unproven treatments on sick patients. ``If you go online, you can find dozens of sites that offer unproved therapies,'' George Daley, a researcher with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said at a press conference in Half Moon Bay, California. The society will draft the guidelines, which may be completed by year's end, members said. About 30 scientists, investors and government officials affiliated with the group gathered yesterday in this coastal town south of San Francisco for a daylong meeting aimed at better coordinating the quickening pace of stem cell research. U.S. Policy Story Landis, chief of the Stem Cell Task Force for the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said government officials could prepare in a matter of months to start funding research into embryonic stem cells after President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Bush has restricted the use of federal dollars to conduct research on cells derived from days-old embryos because the embryos are destroyed in the process. __________________ http://justadollarplease.org/ 2010 SCINet Clinical Trial Support Squad Member "You kids and your cures, why back when I was injured they gave us a wheelchair and that's the way it was and we liked it!" Grumpy Old Man .."i used to be able to goof around so much because i knew Superman had my back. now all i've got is his example -- and that's gonna have to be enough."

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03-19-2008, 04:53 PM	#1511
manouli Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: florida Posts: 9,337	Stem Cell Technology Offers Promise of Huge Savings for Drug Developers Posted : Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:34:14 GMT NEW YORK, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 90% of drugs entering clinical development fail to get to market, due to the lack of effectiveness or adverse side effects not detected in animal tests. These false positives could be avoided with pre-clinical tests using stem cell technologies, potentially saving drug developers millions, according to Kalorama Information's new report Stem Cells: Worldwide Markets for Transplantation, Cord Blood Banking and Drug Development The discovery and commercialization of a new drug costs in excess of $1 billion and requires more than 14 years. Early toxicity testing is a particular problem, since there are currently no good models for determining whether a drug will be toxic in humans. Some unsafe products advance through testing and approval, only to be pulled from the market later at a huge expense, as was the case with Vioxx and Bextra. Though stem cell-based drug development technologies are in an early stage of development, and will most likely not become available before 2012 at the earliest, their prospects are promising. more... http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/s...2C321328.shtml

03-19-2008, 05:01 PM	#1512
manouli Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: florida Posts: 9,337	Midlander donates stem cells to 13-year-old boy By Tony Lascari 03/18/2008 Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly Ian Wenger knows the power one person can make in another person's life. The Midland resident recently donated stem cells to help a boy he has never met. "All I know is he's a 13-year-old boy," Wenger said. "They aren't able to tell me anything in the first year about it. They're not even able to tell me where he's from." Wenger signed up for the bone marrow donation registry while attending Delta College. Last fall he was contacted because he matched a child who needed stem cells. On Jan. 30, he traveled to Grand Rapids to make the donation. "It's an opportunity to help somebody," he said. "It's not like it takes a lot of time or effort on our part. It's an easy process that can save their life." Barbara Hile, director of the Michigan Community Blood Centers marrow/stem cell program, said stem cells are usually used for people with leukemia or cancers of the blood who have suppressed immune systems due to cancer treatments. Stem cell donors take a medication for five days prior to donating that causes white cells to increase more abundantly in a short period of time. Those cells are than collected by drawing blood from one arm, separating what is needed and returning the remaining blood components to the other arm. "Those stem cells are packaged up in our lab and we transport them, actually physically taking them in a cooler and flying them to the transplant center," Hile said. The cells are then transfused into the patient, whose immune system can use the cells to rebuild itself after chemotherapy and radiation. more... http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news....d=513237&rfi=6

03-19-2008, 05:11 PM	#1513
manouli Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: florida Posts: 9,337	Stem cell firm looks elsewhere as US delays tests Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:23 AM GMT By Ben Hirschler LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - British stem cell pioneer ReNeuron Group Plc (RQE.L: Quote, Profile , Research) is looking elsewhere to test its experimental stroke treatment ReN001, following a series of delays in the United States, it said on Wednesday. The problems faced by the small biotech firm highlight the wider difficulties of commercialising the promise of stem cells, "master cells" in the body that scientists hope to coax into repairing damaged tissue. ReNeuron has been waiting more than a year for a green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, gatekeeper of the world's biggest drugs markt, that would allow it to start a Phase I clinical trial of ReN001. more...... http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/arti...S-RENEURON.XML

03-20-2008, 09:53 AM	#1514
manouli Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: florida Posts: 9,337	Family of Three Americans Become Pain Free and Improve Their Quality of Life With Stem Cell Treatment in Mexico Thursday March 20, 8:36 am ET MONTERREY, Mexico, March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimum Health Regeneration Center announced the successful treatment of an American family treated for pain management and impaired mobility. This New Mexico family, ranging in age from 52 to 78, all recorded significant improvements in reduced pain, increased physical mobility and in their quality of life after receiving treatment with umbilical cord stem cells and ozone therapy at one of the participating Optimum Health Clinics in Monterrey, Mexico. Details can be found on the website, http://www.stemcellmexico.com. In January 2008, Steve Aguilar, a concrete construction company owner, from New Mexico just couldn't take it any more. The pain in his knees, particular the right knee, was getting unbearable. He was limping and having a hard time walking and being on his feet while servicing his customers. more......... http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080320/neth034.html?.v=45

03-20-2008, 09:57 AM	#1515
manouli Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: florida Posts: 9,337	New stem cell variety found in menstrual blood By Terri Somers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER March 20, 2008 A startup stem cell company with part of its operations in San Diego has discovered a new type of stem cell in menstrual blood, a finding that might allow researchers to avoid the medical and ethical issues surrounding the use of human embryonic stem cells. AdvertisementMedistem Laboratories said these new cells are more like human embryonic stem cells than most so-called adult stem cells because they can turn into nine tissue types in the body. They also can replicate themselves faster than other adult stem cell types, giving them the potential to be banked and creating the possibility of a plentiful supply of cells for therapies, said Thomas Ichim, the company's new chief executive. more... http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/b...0medistem.html

03-20-2008, 10:25 AM	#1516
manouli Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: florida Posts: 9,337	Thursday Mar 20 Forum focuses on stem cells Scientists discuss the potential change in federal policy By Lisa M. Krieger / Bay Area News Group Hundreds of embryonic stem cell lines that provide hope for treating devastating disorders such as sickle cell anemia and Down syndrome are available for research but are off-limits to federal scientists because of White House restrictions, scientists said Wednesday. But, the scientists said at a conference in Half Moon Bay, a change in policy after next November's presidential election could make the cells available quickly. The three presidential candidates - Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrats Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama - all support expanded federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. Their actions would lift a restriction imposed by President Bush in 2001 that limits federally funded research to fewer than two dozen embryonic stem cell lines. "The rubber could hit the road within months," said Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health. "It's not rocket science. We know how to do it." Wednesday's first-ever conference of the Global Forum of the International Society for Stem Cell Research brought together experts to survey the current state of stem cell science. Although the conference was closed to the media, participants shared their hopes for expanded research at a news conference. Embryonic stem cells have the unique ability to be converted into almost any type of cell found in the body, holding out hope that they can be used to treat everything from severed spines to diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's. But a significant minority of Americans believe that using the cells for research and to treat disease is immoral because extracting the cells destroys the embryos. Stem cell advocates, however, counter that the embryos come from fertility clinics, which routinely throw thousands of embryos each year into the trash as medical waste. more..... http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/art...-smc-stem-cell

03-20-2008, 10:39 AM	#1517
manouli Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: florida Posts: 9,337	Unproven Stem-Cell Treatments Spur Research Group Guidelines By Rob Waters March 20 (Bloomberg) -- An international group of scientists is establishing guidelines for stem-cell therapies because clinics in China, Costa Rica and Barbados are using unproven treatments on sick patients. ``If you go online, you can find dozens of sites that offer unproved therapies,'' George Daley, a researcher with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston and president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said at a press conference in Half Moon Bay, California. The society will draft the guidelines, which may be completed by year's end, members said. About 30 scientists, investors and government officials affiliated with the group gathered yesterday in this coastal town south of San Francisco for a daylong meeting aimed at better coordinating the quickening pace of stem cell research. The risk of some of the treatments being offered ``is that patients and their relatives who are desperate may lose a lot of money'' on treatments ``that have no scientific or clinical basis,'' said Olle Lindvall, a researcher at the University of Lund in Sweden who is chairing the task force. The patients could suffer dangerous side effects from the treatments, such as developing tumors, Lindvall said. Injuries to patients could also tarnish the field of legitimate stem-cell research and hold back scientific advances, he said. U.S. Policy Story Landis, chief of the Stem Cell Task Force for the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said government officials could prepare in a matter of months to start funding research into embryonic stem cells after President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Bush has restricted the use of federal dollars to conduct research on cells derived from days-old embryos because the embryos are destroyed in the process. Embryonic cells are valued because they have the ability to turn into any of the roughly 210 cell types found in the human body. Scientists and patients hope the cells may one day be used to treat incurable conditions such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal cord injury. more.... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...k10&refer=home