Investors reportedly have lost interest in an embryonic stem-cell research lab’s failed efforts to create clinical therapies, according to the company’s former chief executive.
Alan Colman, former chief executive of ES Cell International (ESI), a leading Singapore biotechnology research firm, told Science magazine that investors concluded that “the likelihood of having products in the clinic in the short term was vanishingly small.”
Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the real promise of stem-cell treatments and therapies is in adult stem cells, which do not involve the destruction of a human life.
“When prominent scientists in the field of embryonic stem-cell research say that that they need ‘success stories,’ it's pretty obvious that the real truth about embryonic stem-cell research is being revealed,” Vargo said. “The truth is that embryonic stem-cell research has yet to yield a single successful treatment for patients. Meanwhile, adult stem cells continue to provide success stories – more than 70 diseases and ailments are being treated and more than 1,500 clinical trials are using adult stem cells for treatment.”
