Search Results for: geron

Update on stem cell biotechs: an ethical investment, but risky and requiring patience.

When I was at the recent World Stem Cell Summit, I had the opportunity to meet a ton of people from all different walks of life including other scientists in academia, folks in the biotech/pharma industry, and many inspiring patient advocates. A number of people were curious about my view on how the stem cell-related …

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The news of CIRM and clinical trial: don’t forget the patient

As much as so many were excited yesterday about the enrollment of the first patient in a CIRM-funded clinical trial, I did not see a mention of a very important element. The patient. Our excitement about the clinical trial moving forward is understandable, but we also need to keep a sober perspective on the fact …

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Some perspectives on CIRM funding for first clinical trial patient

Today marked a major milestone as the Geron spinal cord injury clinical trial, supported by CIRM funding, using human embryonic stem cell-derived oligodendrocyte precursor cells enrolled its first patient in California supported. CIRM funding = clinical trials progressing and patients treated. Many major media outlets covered the story including the North County Times in this …

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Portraying sci-fi about stem cells and aging as reality: unhelpful hype

I believe that stem cells may at some point allow people to live slightly longer, maybe a couple years on average. However, I think they have the potential to dramatically increase the quality of life during the time we are alive.  My colleague Amy Adams over at the CIRM research blog had a great post …

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Stem Cell Scientists KO’d in round one versus unproven clinics: where’s the FDA?

One of the greatest and most infuriating ironies of the stem cell-based regenerative medicine universe is that while the FDA strictly regulates the progress of therapy development by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and Geron and other legitimate companies, at the same time mysteriously the FDA essentially leaves completely unregulated the companies within the U.S. offering …

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Stem cells gone wild? What really happens after a transplant

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What really happens to cells after they a stem cell transplant into a patient? Once these cells, which have spent weeks in a lab environment, are injected into a person, what happens next? This is arguably the most important question in the regenerative medicine field, but there are few answers. We are literally mostly in …

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The valley of death: stem cells, biotechs, and money

For those of us conducting stem cell research, especially human stem cell research, I don’t have to tell you how expensive it is. Even just doing pre-clinical or basic science research costs a fortune. When you start talking about the kind of pre-clinical research specifically designed to get in the near future to a Phase …

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