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The issue of paying for human eggs to support SCNT

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Californiastemcellreport has a post about an AP story on the issues related to payment to egg donors.

LBE made a comment:

To turn the guideline argument inside out, note that Hwang Woo Suk, in a footnote in his second paper in the journal Science, spoke of his compliance with the then-recently enacted guidelines in South Korea. But, he hadn't really complied, or created the stem cell lines, either.

The last words of the AP story:

Whatever the obstacles, at least one multinational pharmaceutical company is betting stem cells could be the source of the next blockbuster medicine. GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the world's second-largest drug maker, announced a $25 million collaboration with Harvard stem cell researchers last week.

"Give us the eggs. If we don't succeed, then be critical," said Sam Wood [of Stemagen]. "You have to give people the tools that are required to determine whether the methodology will work."

The AP story also noted: Last month, the California agency doled out $23 million in research grants but turned down all applications seeking funding for therapeutic cloning. Stemagen and at least one other biotech startup, Cascade Life Sciences Inc. of San Diego, were among the applicants whose proposals were denied.

IPBiz notes "therapeutic cloning" is SCNT.

Separately, InVitrogen licensed a stem cell line from Buck; MarketWatch reported:

The stem cell line, called BG01 Olig2-GFP, is engineered to track the Olig2 gene, a neural lineage marker. The Olig2 gene controls a protein that maintains a neural stem cell's ability to replicate early in brain development, and then directs it to form a particular type of neural cell.

"This line of stem cells adds to Invitrogen's expanding portfolio of engineered stem cells," said Joydeep Goswami, Invitrogen Vice President of Primary and Stem Cell Systems. "We plan to not only provide the line to customers, but also to further develop products from the line that will serve as valuable tools in neural stem cell research."

(...)

The Buck Institute will be holding the first annual Stem Cell Symposium on the Bay in Novato, Calif., on August 8, 2008. Invitrogen's Principal Scientist of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, Mohan Vemuri, Ph.D., will be presenting on the propagation of human embryonic stem cells in serum-free, feeder-free and xeno-free conditions. Invitrogen's Vice President of Research and Development for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Mahendra Rao, is organizing the conference.

Full post as published by IPBiz on July 31, 2008 (boomark / email).