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Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

California Legislation Removing Ban on Payments for Eggs for Research Heads to Governor

Posted: July 14, 2013 at 2:59 am

Legislation to allow women in
California to be paid for their eggs for scientific research is on
its way to Gov. Jerry Brown following final legislative approval last
week.
Sponsors of the bill, a national
fertility industry organization, expect the governor later this month
to sign the measure, which would go into effect next year.
The measure, AB 926 by Assemblywoman
Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, would repeal a ban on payments to women who
provide eggs for scientific research. However, the measure would not
affect the ban on payments to egg providers in research funded by the
$3 billion California stem cell agency. That ban is covered by a
separate legal provision. Stem cell researchers around the country have complained that they they cannot get eggs without payment.
Women in California can be paid for
providing eggs for reproductive purposes. According to a legislative analysis, payments can run as high as $50,000 for women with special
characteristics but average around $9,000 for each session, which can
generate more than one egg.
The sponsor of the legislation is the
American Society for Reproductive Medicine of Alabama, whose members
represent a wide swath of the $5 billion-a-year fertility business.
The measure would open new business avenues for the industry.
Bonilla argues that the measure allows women to be treated on the same footing as men who provide sperm for
research and would encourage more research into reproductive health issues.
Opponents argue that the safety of the
egg production procedures has not been well-established including
their long-term impact. They also argue that allowing payment would
lead to exploitation of poor and minority women.
The bill received its final
legislative approval on July 1 when the Senate passed it on a 24-9
vote.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/2FyX5YnnQHA/california-legislation-removing-ban-on.html

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Billings veterinary clinic conducts city’s first dog stem cell therapy treatment

Posted: July 13, 2013 at 12:40 am

Thor, an athletic 7-year-old Catahoula leopard hound, lay on a table at the Animal Clinic of Billings, panting lightly while staffers put small bags over his feet and temperature-controlled packs on his chest before the anesthesia kicked in.

Not long after he went under, those same staff members carried Thor to an operating table where his owner, Dr. Bobbi Jo Massic, who is also a veterinarian at the clinic, made a small incision in his abdomen, the first step in a cutting-edge process designed to help the alleviate the dogs hip dysplasia and arthritis.

By the end of Tuesday, Thor became the very first patient in the clinics brand new animal stem cell therapy program.

This is a very exciting day, said Dr. Bryna Felchle, another vet at the clinic who will help spearhead the program. Were launching our very first stem cell therapy right here.

The process is widespread across the United States, but Felchle is just the second vet in Montana certified to perform the procedure and the only one in the eastern half of the state.

Generally, it involves removing fatty tissue from an animal, separating the stem cells from that tissue, activating the cells and then injecting or applying them back into the animal to promote healing or tissue growth.

The stem cells which differentiate and adapt into needed cells and tissues help to treat arthritis, hip dysplasia, ligament and cartilage injuries and other degenerative diseases.

Massic said Thor is a very active dog. Several years ago, he tore an anterior cruciate ligament, for which he underwent three surgeries and has a metal plate and three screws in one of his legs, along with the arthritis and dysplasia.

He has a lot of his active life ahead of him, she said. Were hoping that we can get him back to that mobility he had before.

She also said it could cut down on healing time, since the surgery requires fairly small incisions and a simple injection of the cells later.

Originally posted here:
Billings veterinary clinic conducts city's first dog stem cell therapy treatment

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Stop stem cell therapy – Doctor

Posted: July 13, 2013 at 12:40 am

Manila, Philippines -- If she would have her way, Dr. Marita V.T. Reyes, Co-Chairperson of the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB), yesterday said she would put a stop to the medical procedure of stem cell therapy.

Reyes delivered a paper yesterday on the topic, "Ethical Consideration In Stem Cell-based Therapy and Research-Poor Countries," on the last day of the 35th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Department of Science and Technology-National Academy of Science and Technology (DOST-NAST) at the historic landmark Manila Hotel.

Reyes acknowledged that there is a "standard" stem cell therapy treatment involving "hematopoietic disorders," such as "leukemia and lymphomas," through "bone marrow or cord blood transplant."

She, however, emphasized that this cannot be said yet in the cases of diseases of the heart, eyes, diabetes, stroke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's (ALS), multiple sclerosis, cancer, and cartilage repair.

Stem cell therapy for these diseases, she stressed, should be stopped.

"If I have the power, I will say, 'stop this in the meantime, until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has come up with a quality assurance. Until the FDA is able to say that what you say is there, is there, we have no way of protecting our people," said Reyes, when asked about the ethics board's possible advice.

"So, as far as I am concerned, I would like the stem cell therapy, meaning for people who are saying they are using stem cell therapy, to stop, until we have set up very clear quality assurance (system)," the PHREB official said.

Stem cell therapy discussions resulted from the reported death of three Filipino politicians, and the complaint of a government official, after allegedly subjecting themselves from the controversial medical procedure.

Dr. Francisco Chung, Jr., of the Makati Medical Center (MMC), on the other hand, conceded that there are many stem cell procedures that are "experimental in nature."

"What we have approved clinically is bone marrow transplantation," he said, citing the approval of the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

Originally posted here:
Stop stem cell therapy – Doctor

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Shestack Resignation Letter: Heartfelt and Eloquent

Posted: July 12, 2013 at 3:59 pm

Jon Shestack(l) with J.T. Thomas, chairman of
CIRM, at a 2012 board meeting
California Stem Cell Report photo
Patient advocate Jon Shestack , who
resigned this week as a director of the
California stem cell agency, was on board on Day One in December 2004
when the agency's work began with no offices, no desks, no chairs, no phones and
no ability to even write checks.
Shestack's appointment came as a result
of his work in the autism community. He and his wife, Portia Iversen,
founded Cure Autism Now in 1995. A Hollywood film producer, Shestack
rattled cages at CIRM from time to time during his eight years of
service. And earlier this week, he wrote a heartfelt, eloquent
resignation letter, which he provided to the California Stem Cell
Report. The full text can be found below. Here are some excerpts.

“Over eight years there were moments
that were inspiring, some were contentious, and there was a bruising
number of meetings but through it all, the board was involved,
passionate and, will forever be for me, the gold standard when it
comes to integrity.
“The same goes double for the staff –
truly the most excellent, devoted, committed group of people I
have ever had the pleasure of working with.”

“When I started at CIRM, my sweet son
with autism was 12. Now he is 21. Over eight years our family has
learned more about how many are the challenges that await him and how
few the opportunities he has to look forward to. We have seen his
world get smaller and smaller. While my son is special to me. He is
not unique. There are thousands and thousands affected by mental
illness who need a better life.
“Sometimes feel that I have failed
these people, in particular those affected by autism or cerebral
palsy. Though CIRM ran first-rate workshops on these disorders, we
did not do all we could to follow up, put out disease-specific RFAs
and get in proposals that addressed the workshop recommendations. I
wish I had been more persuasive."

“In the movies, the third act is
where the hero takes stock of all the previous wins and losses, all
the hardships and lessons learned, and she puts all that knowledge
together in new, and surprising ways until victory is within reach!
As CIRM enters its third act, I hope it will do the same. I hope it
will challenge itself, always put the urgency of the mission
ahead of everything else and be willing to question the policies that
have been so successful in the past, and consider that new ones may
be needed for the future.
“And this is the future as I see it
for CIRM. We will have faith, but we will continue to earn our
miracles We will use our hearts and our minds to rip those miracles
out of the dreamy future and make them real today. We will seek out
the best scientists and encourage them to use all their wisdom, art
and discernment to bring us cures. And when we have done that, we
will do it again the next day. We will be optimistic, but not
satisfied. We will question authority, despise complacency and above
all love those among us in need of healing--this is the obligation
without end, whose reward is also without end.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/BaaZlqP9Q4s/shestack-resignation-letter-heartfelt.html

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TV News Piece on Pay-for-Eggs Airs in Los Angeles, San Francisco

Posted: July 12, 2013 at 1:36 pm

The California pay-for-eggs legislation
yesterday picked up some mainstream media coverage, including a
two-minute, 24-second segment on two major television stations in Los
Angeles and San Francisco.
The piece stands out because the
mainstream media has largely ignored the bill, with a couple of
exceptions. The piece is also exceptional because it appeared on TV
news, which reaches many more people than print media.
Nannette Miranda, Sacramento bureau
chief for KABC-TV in Los
Angeles, KGTV in
San Diego, KGO-TV in San
Francisco and KFSN-TV in Fresno, prepared the segment, which included on-camera interviews with both
supporters and opponents. The video appeared on KGO and KABC
and may well appear later on the other stations. It can be seen at
the end of this item.
The legislation, AB926 by Susan
Bonilla, D-Concord, would remove the ban in California on paying
women for their eggs for stem cell and other scientific research.
Women can already be paid for their eggs for fertility purposes.
Another piece on the bill appeared in
another mainstream media outlet this morning, the San Diego U-T.
Writing in an op-ed column, Leah Campbell said she sold her eggs at
age 25 and has since become infertile as the result of problems her
doctors believe involved the process of providing the eggs.

“Six months (after providing the
eggs) my body began to fail me. I had always been a healthy and
active woman, but suddenly I was crippled by pain and unable to live
the life I had once enjoyed. I was soon diagnosed with stage IV
endometriosis, a disease my doctors now believe was pushed into
overdrive as a result of the potent hormones involved in my egg
donation protocols.”

Campbell continued,

“AB 926 may open the doors for
increased fertility research, but the potential costs for women’s
lives and health far outweigh any compensation that could ever be
offered.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/uMnWUVrymr8/tv-news-piece-on-pay-for-eggs-airs-in.html

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Sacramento Mental Health Advocate Appointed to Stem Cell Agency Board

Posted: July 12, 2013 at 12:43 pm

Al Rowlett
Turning Point photo
Sacramento mental health advocate Al
Rowlett has been named to the governing board of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency, it was announced today.
Rowlett replaces Jonathan Shestack on
the 29-member panel. Shestack had served on the board since 2004,
when the agency was created by the Proposition 71 ballot initiative.
Rowlett is chief operating officer of Turning Point Community Programs in Sacramento. He was appointed to
the CIRM board by California Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los
Angeles. Rowlett will fill one of the 10 patient advocate slots on
the board. He will be only African-American on the panel. The board
had also included one African-American, Ted Love, from 2004 to April
2012, when Love resigned.
Rowlett is no stranger to public and
governmental service. He is in his second term as a member of the Elk
Grove school board, the fifth largest school district in California.
He has worked for Turning Point since 1981.
CIRM's press release said Rowlett also
serves on several other boards including Child Abuse Prevention
Center, California Institute of Mental Health and is a commissioner
for the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association
Certification Program. In 2007, Rowlett won the National Association
of Social Work- California and California State University – Heart
of Social Work Award and the Asian Pacific Community Counseling –
Inspirational Mental Health Leadership Award.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/C2aH568yoco/sacramento-mental-health-advocate.html

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Veto Campaign Launched on California Pay-For-Eggs Bill

Posted: July 12, 2013 at 10:50 am

Opponents of the California
pay-for-eggs bill have kicked off a campaign to urge Gov. Jerry Brown to veto the industry-backed legislation.
The Center for Genetics and Society of
Berkeley yesterday posted a pitch on its website urging readers to
contact the governor's office by email, fax, phone or letter. The
target is a bill that would remove the ban in California on paying
women for their eggs for stem cell and other scientific research.
Women can already be paid for their eggs for fertility purposes.
Diane Tober, associate executive
director of the center, wrote,

“If you agree that more research on
short- and long-term risks is needed before expanding the market for
women’s eggs, please act quickly. Contact Governor Brown and ask
him to veto AB926.”

Also making the same pitch is the
Alliance for Humane Biology, another San Francisco Bay area
organization.
The bill, AB926 by Assemblywoman Susan
Bonilla, D-Concord, has literally been cloaked in motherhood/reproductive issues. The measure has easily swept through the legislature and is now on its
way to the governor. The bill is sponsored by the AssociationFew if any stem cell or other research
organizations have been heard from during hearings on the bill. (For
more information, see here, here and here.)
However, stem cell scientists have
complained in past years about the lack of eggs for research,
declaring that women want to be paid.
The measure would not affect the ban on
compensation for eggs in research funded by the $3 billion California
stem cell agency. However, the agency on July 24 will consider providing exceptions for stem cell lines derived from eggs that
involve compensation for women.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/OqoMeSiIO_c/veto-campaign-launched-on-california.html

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"Comfort News" for California's Stem Cell Research Effort

Posted: July 11, 2013 at 4:03 pm

The California stem cell agency has
enjoyed a spate of good financial and scientific news this week from
the biotech industry as the research effort pushes on with its
mission of turning stem cells into cures.
The $3 billion agency is
scheduled to make its last grants in less than three years and, given
the glacial pace of medical research, needs all the help it can get
by then to bring a stem cell therapy close to the marketplace – the
promise it made to voters when the agency was created nine years ago.
CIRM, as the agency is known, requires
not only steady scientific progress but also a rosy outlook for the
industry, which has languished in past years as major investors
shunned the field. This week, CIRM garnered good news on both fronts.
There was enough so that the agency
even touted it on the agency's research blog in an item by
Neil Littman, CIRM's business development officer. He said it all
helps to leverage CIRM investments and create a favorable investment climate. The good news included yesterday's announcement that
Viacyte, Inc., of San Diego, Ca., has come up with $10.6
million needed to match a $10.1 million, much-ballyhooed award from CIRM last fall. The Viacyte financing
includes important support from Big Pharma, in the form of Johnson &
Johnson. CIRM has pumped a total of $39.4 million into Viacyte.
Another CIRM award winner,
Cellular Dynamics International, Inc., of Madison, Wisc., yesterday
announced its price on its upcoming stock offering to raise up to $53
million. Cellular Dynamics scored $16 million from the agency last
March.
The “comfort news” for CIRM also included Monday's announcement that Capricor, Inc., a private Beverly Hills company benefiting from $27 million from the California stem cell agency, is merging with publicly traded Niles Therapeutic, Inc., of San Mateo. The merger is aimed at providing better access to capital.
And then there was Tuesday's news that a $20 million CIRM disease team award is paying off with the beginning of a clinical trial by Calimmune of Tucson, Az. for an HIV treatment.
All on top of the news in June when bluebird bio of Masschusetts brought in $101 million on its stock offering. Bluebird is the recipient of a $9.4 million CIRM award.
The rosy news comes amid a generally
better outlook for biotech in general. John Carroll, editor of Fierce
Biotech, this week noted that there were only 11 biotech stock offerings last
year. He wrote,

“In the last 6 months, though, the
industry has seen a tremendous rebound, with almost twice that number
of IPOs in half the time. And there's no sign that the great leap
into the public market is waning, with 10 more IPOs in the queue.”

Carroll's comments were echoed in a
piece by Peter Winter on Bioworld headlined “Bubbleology and Biotech's Bull Run.”
All of this plays into what some might
call the “everybody's-doing-it dance" or the “lemming
syndrome,” depending on your point of view. The reality is that
big investors and venture capitalists are timid souls and need the
comfort of companionship-in-risk as they fork over tens or hundreds
of millions of dollars on something that may not pay off for a decade
or more. No one wants to be the out-front pioneer who winds up with
financial arrows in his or her back. Being in a crowd provides an
illusion of safety.
Of course, there is always the caveat
about how markets and investors are fickle. A piece of bad news can
translate quickly into major reversals as Apple has learned over the
last year. Nonetheless, the folks at the stem cell agency have to  be feeling good today.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/g8tqW1ynaMw/comfort-news-for-californias-stem-cell.html

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Stem cell therapy future of medicine? – Video

Posted: July 11, 2013 at 1:40 pm


Stem cell therapy future of medicine?
Everyone is talking about stem cell therapy. But scammers and swindlers are also taking advantage of the fad, prompting the Health Department to step in. Bue...

By: Rappler

More here:
Stem cell therapy future of medicine? - Video

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Pay-for-Eggs Legislation: Strange Bedfellows and Existential Questions

Posted: July 10, 2013 at 8:26 pm

 The California pay-for-eggs bill
today generated a feature article that said the legislation has
“sparked an unusual lineup of partisans on both sides and resonates
far beyond” the Golden State.
The piece by Alex Mathews on Capitol
Weekly, a news service specializing in California government and
political coverage, said,

“(C)omplicating the issue is
California’s role as a national leader in stem cell research, the
existential question of who or what constitutes a research subject,
and finally, the fact that compensation for fertility purposes is and
has been legal for years in California.”

Mathews was writing about the measure
(AB926) by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, that removes a ban
in California on paying women for eggs for scientific research.
Currently women can be paid in California for providing eggs for IVF.
The measure would not alter a ban on compensation for eggs in
research financed by the $3 billion California stem cell agency.
However, later this month, the agency will consider modifying its position somewhat.
The bill has passed the legislature and
is on its way to Gov. Jerry Brown. The industry association
sponsoring the bill expects the governor to sign it later this month
although the governor, as a general rule, does not make public
commitments on legislation.
Mathews' article covered the background
and arguments on the bill and noted that it has received little
mainstream media attention.
Lisa Ikemoto
UC Davis photo
She also quoted Lisa Ikemoto, a law
professor and bioethicist at UC Davis, on the sensitive nature of the
issue. Ikemoto said,

“On the fertility side, it’s
politically hard to touch because it’s all around family formation.
Nobody wants to restrict family formation. On the research side, when
the issue of payment for eggs came up, it was connected with human
embryonic stem cell research, and human embryonic stem cell research
was politicized from the outset.”

Mathews also wrote about the strange
bedfellows opposing the bill. She said,

“Groups that fundamentally oppose
stem cell research such as the California Catholic Conference and
other pro-life groups are natural opponents of the bill, but they are
joined by a number of pro-choice groups who expressed concerns over
the limited research on the effects of egg donation on women’s
health.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/pskHpPceyco/pay-for-eggs-legislation-strange.html

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