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The Spiritual Life
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Stem cell grants could begin in Jan.
Battles loom on ownership of embryo 'lines'
Raja Mishra and Anthony Shadid, Globe Staff , 8/11/2001
Yesterday, administration officials began the complex task of regulating the controversial field for the first time, one day after President Bush announced that he would permit federal funding of the research as long as no new human embryos were destroyed to create the coveted cells. Scientists have already used embryonic stem cells to cure paralysis, heart disease, and diabetes in mice, and believe that with adequate funding, the first human treatments might emerge by the end of the decade. The cells, abundant in fertilized eggs just after conception, have the potential to transform into any of the approximately 200 cell types in the body, holding out the possibility of cures for most major ailments. "I breathed a huge sigh of relief at the president's announcement. I think we're much better off than we were before," said Dr. George Daley of MIT's Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital. Daley does stem cell research on childhood cancers. But tension has emerged between scientists and the companies that own the existing stem cells. Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., which funded the first successful extraction of the cells in 1998, yesterday said it owned the rights to all discoveries made using the cells. If true, this could mean that most researchers would not profit from future work, and scientists expressed reservations about Geron's aggressive position. In addition, Bush still faces a fight over which research deserves funding. Research firms that destroy new embryos to harvest stem cells, such as Advanced Cell Technology Inc. of Worcester, would not be eligible for federal support. Some scientists say Bush's limits on funding will leave too few stem cells to satisfy all research needs. However, Bush surprised scientists on Thursday night when he said that there are already 60 batches, or "lines," of embryonic stem cells around the world, held by companies in the United States, Sweden, Israel, Australia, Singapore, and India. Each line was created by harvesting stem cells from a single source - either an embryo, blood from newborns' umbilical cords or sometimes adult cells - then allowing them to multiply so that they supply a large number of cells. US companies have the most lines, but officals declined yesterday to identify the companies. "The president is privvy to information unknown to me and the scientific community," said Douglas Melton, chairman of the cellular and molecular biology department at Harvard University and a leading stem cell researcher. "The 60 cell lines are news to me." Most researchers had estimated that there are about 20 stem cell lines. Yesterday, many continued to dispute the Bush administration's tally. Bush officials said the confusion was inevitable given that the field has operated without public oversight since its inception in 1998. "A lot of the research was going on behind closed doors and was being closely protected for proprietary reasons," said Dr. Lana Skirboll, associate director for science policy at the National Institutes of Health, which will regulate the field. Some scientists have complained about limiting federally funded research to only these 60 lines. They worry that the genetic quirks of these cells could cause many patients to reject them. Bush administration officials yesterday strongly rebutted this argument, noting that the Human Genome Project used a far smaller sample of cells to sequence all human genes. Other researchers worried that a few companies controlling all the cells would restrict scientists' access. "We still have some very strong proprietary and patent issues to work through. But we're very confident they can be addressed," said Tommy Thompson, US health and human services secretary. The once-obscure stem cell issue was pushed into the public arena in 1998, when researchers at the University of Wisconsin - after many failed attempts - managed to draw the cells from the core of an embryo they obtained from a fertilization clinic. The clinic had planned to throw the embryo out. The cells emerge when the embryo is just under a week old, when it is a cluster of about 150 cells called a blastocyst. The blastocyst is destroyed in taking the stem cells, leading some opponents of abortion to see its destruction as murder. Antiabortion advocates continued to voice mixed reactions yesterday, with some expressing concern that pressure would increase to loosen Bush's rules. "Maintaining his position will be difficult in today's cultural climate," said Cardinal Bernard Law, archbishop of Boston, who opposes embryonic stem cell research. Currently, only a handful of local scientists undertake embryonic stem cell work, but one prominent researcher predicted an increase. "The president said he would allow federal funding. There will be a scramble to get grants written for research using the current cell lines," said Daley of the Whitehead Institute. But the limited research both here and elsewhere has already shown glimmers of its enormous potential. Stem cells have allowed mice paralyzed by degenerative nerve conditions to walk again; damaged mice hearts have regenerated with stem cell injections; last month, researchers published data showing stem cells could be coaxed to produce insulin in diabetic mice. "You're saying to yourself, `I'd really like to replicate these experiments in humans,' " said Dr. Robert Goldstein at the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in New York, which has funded embryonic stem cell research around the world using private donations. The emergence of private funders such as the Diabetes Foundation - and the threat of some stem cell researchers to leave the country - put intense pressure on Bush to allow federal funding despite his strong ties to the antiabortion movement. After months of private discussions, Bush found a middle ground, and announced his position on national television Thursday. Bush administration officials insisted yesterday that their count of 60 existing stem cell lines was correct, with officials admitting that even after Bush's speech ended at 9:11 p.m. on Thursday, they scrambled to recount the lines to make sure. "All of us were surprised by the number 60," said Skirboll of NIH, who added that the number may increase slightly because of the possiblity that cell lines that were recently created have yet to be reported. The private companies that own the lines have no legal obligation to reveal their existence, though Skirboll said that in the next two to three weeks most of them would identify themselves. California-based Geron may be the leading owner of cell lines in the United States with six, though only three are thought to be usable for experiments. Geron has patented the technique for extracting stem cells and has laid claim to any discovery the stems from the procedure. "We take patents very seriously here," Thomas Okarma, head of Geron, said yesterday. He added, "We have paid for the research, we have paid for the lines and we are a commercial concern that is going to turn these cells into products. Full stop." But many scientists predicted court fights with Geron, which they said might slow progress. And the fact that only a few companies in the world own the cell lines also prompted fears of price gouging and preferential treatment. Currently, a nonprofit company in Wisconsin sells stem cells for $5,000. "The highest bidder will get access to the best stuff in a market that is controlled by a monopoly," warned Dr. Quentin Young, head of the liberal Physicians for a National Health Program.
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© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Co. |
Profile: 
he Bush administration announced yesterday that the first federal grants
for embryonic stem cell research could be issued next January, breathing life
into a sluggish but highly promising field of medicine now dominated by a few
private companies.