First human trial using embryonic stem cells to begin

With the inaguration of President Barack Obama, a new scientific revolution is about to begin that, according to Geron Corporation CEO Thomas Okarma, "will enable living cells to become tomorrow's pills." As he explains in The Guardian, his company is interested in the mass production of stem cell therapies that can heal wounds and repair damaged organs and tissues. Its ultimate goal is to be able to make frozen stem cells that can be stored in a vial and available in a hospital pharmacy for off-the-shelf use, just like pill forms of medications.

Thus far, stem cell trials involving animals have been impressive. For example, paralyzed rats have regained partial use of their hind lends. Geron will be the first company to conduct a human trial using embryonic stem cells. The study involving 8 to 10 patients will focus on safety, not on whether stem cells work.

Stems cells, which are able to multiply without differentiating and become tricked into transforming into specific cells, are not only found in embryos. Adult stem cells found in bone marrow are also capable of becoming certain types of blood and tissue. As The Guardian reports, a 30-year-old mother in Barcelona whose lungs were severly damaged due to tuberculosis, underwent a pioneering operation in which stem cells from bone marrow in her hip was engineered to turn into cartilage. The cartilage was then "seeded" onto a piece of donated windpipe. Her body recognized the organ as her own, eliminating the need for a lifetime of immunosuppression drugs.

Most scientists agree that the mass production of stem cells is decades away, but with the Bush ban on federal funding expected to be lifted by President Obama, the stem cell industry is already moving quickly and anticipated to speed up even further. In fact, several companies are on Geron's heels, including the London Project to Cure Blindness, which is looking for permission from British and European regulatory authorities to determine whether embryonic stem cells can save the sight of people with age-related macular degeneration.

Whether or not stem cell science will eventually be affordable for the masses is a big question. "Are we investing a lot of money in something that in the end could only be used by an elite group in society?" asks Austin Smith, Medical Research Council Professor of stem cell biology at Edinburgh University. "If there really was a cure for muscular dystrophy, or for diabetes - which I think is the one for which we are most likely to see a cell therapy - almost whatever the cost, society will have to find a way of providing it and it won't be acceptable if it is only for rich people. But how that will be achieved is difficult to see at the moment."