What will the new year have in store for stem cells?
2016 promises to have many striking stem cell developments. Below are my top 20 stem cell predictions for what is to come this year in no particular order. Share your stem cell tea leaves in the comments please.
- Another stem cell biotech acquisition by pharma (recall Ocata (almost now finally sold) & CDI in 2015).
- Charging patients for clinical trial participation, particularly in Japan due to the new policy and here in the US related to predatory clinics, remains a hot topic
- Stem cell clinics and doping in sports flares up more
- Organoids continue to excite
- Bioheart and some other small stem cell companies struggle
- Stem cell stocks overall have a bad year
- Stem cell clinics ever more aggressively use celeb clients for PR and marketing Why? It is powerful, effective, and essentially free advertising
- More news on human-animal chimeras
- FDA continues its slow-go approach to action on stem cell clinics/unapproved stem cell products
- Pressure from industry and some academics on FDA to not regulate adipose products as drugs and/or to not enforce some other draft guidances including at the upcoming public hearing on the draft guidances
- FDA receives increasing public criticism for “slowness” on approving new stem cell therapies including from beyond the stem cell clinic industry
- One or more lawsuits against a stem cell clinic
- A new stem cell scandal pops up related to publication issues
- Some hiccups on mitochondrial transfer/3-person IVF in the UK or China
- The trend last year of increasingly blurred lines between legit research entities such as universities and dubious stem cell enterprises continues. This is worrisome.
- Stem cell-derived human germ cells stay in the headlines. This has exciting potential for providing new windows into human development and tackling infertility, but also raises thorny issues such as human genetic modification
- ViaCyte has some big news
- High-profile developments on veterinary use of stem cells
- Animal cloning, particularly in China, continues to proliferate
- More rumblings on possible human reproductive cloning attempts
Disclaimer: This post is not meant as financial advice. Consult an expert before making financial decisions.
Where can I get some positive feedback on Stem Cells and what they can do for the human body, and what has been done with stem cells up to this point with humans.
thank you,