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Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

FAQ-8 of 19: Do Stem Cells Have Side Effects In Stem Cell Therapy? – Video

Posted: November 1, 2012 at 7:41 pm


FAQ-8 of 19: Do Stem Cells Have Side Effects In Stem Cell Therapy?
youtu.be The near-miraculous effects of stem cell treatments, when applied by qualified, licensed medical practitioners, is even more wonderful precisely because there are almost no known ill effects or side effects. So for more detailed and personalized information, go to StemCell-Asia.info to learn more on the Apply Now page httpFrom:Karridine1Views:0 0ratingsTime:00:53More inPeople Blogs

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FAQ-8 of 19: Do Stem Cells Have Side Effects In Stem Cell Therapy? - Video

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FAQ-7 of 19: With Stem Cell Therapy, How Long Do Stem Cell Benefits Last? – Video

Posted: November 1, 2012 at 7:41 pm


FAQ-7 of 19: With Stem Cell Therapy, How Long Do Stem Cell Benefits Last?
youtu.be Briefly explaining how long the benefits of stem cell therapy last, when, why and for what conditions. For more detailed explanations, go to StemCell-Asia.info and find the #39;Apply Now #39; page, httpFrom:Karridine1Views:0 0ratingsTime:01:19More inPeople Blogs

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FAQ-7 of 19: With Stem Cell Therapy, How Long Do Stem Cell Benefits Last? - Video

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'Adequate guidelines for stem cell industry'

Posted: November 1, 2012 at 7:41 pm

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29): The Health Ministry has no intention of introducing a Stem Cell Act as the current guidelines are believed to be sufficient to regulate the research being carried out in this growing field.

Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said his ministry has taken the lead to regulate this field by producing four guidelines that provide framework for researchers, clinicians and companies involved in research, clinical trials as well as manufacturing of stem cells.

These four guidelines and standards cover haemopoietic stem cell therapy; cord blood banking and transplantation; stem cell transplantation; and stem cell research and therapy.

Liow stressed that these guidelines, which were introduced in December 2006, with a second edition in July 2009, serve as standards to which practitioners and scientists must abide to in order to ensure no harm is done to the patient.

As such, he said there was no need to table a Stem Cell Bill in Parliament to monitor research and transplants in this field.

Liow said the ministry set up a National Sub-Committee for Ethics in Stem Cell Research and Therapy (NSCERT) as an oversight body for all stem cell research in the country, and religious authorities were consulted while drafting the guidelines.

When asked, Liow said that a fatwa was issued by National Fatwa Council to allow researchers to use the excess embryos, produced through IVF, that have been stored by Muslim couples for research.

In addition, all the stem cell therapy must be tested before use on human body.

Liow also gave some statistics on stem cell transplants in the country.

In 2009, a total of 213 haemopoietic stem cell transplants were performed and registered in this country, with 87.7% performed in public or university hospitals. The Ampang Hospital is the largest centre for this type of transplant and currently, there are 11 such centres in Malaysia.

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'Adequate guidelines for stem cell industry'

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Stem cell face lift: Does it work?

Posted: November 1, 2012 at 7:40 pm

Doctors and researchers have long said that stem cell therapy has the potential to change the face of human disease. But what if stem cells could be used to reverse the aging process as well?

Plastic surgeons say they can use stem cells to make women look years younger without the pain of an invasive surgery.

"I lost weight, loss of volume in face, I looked gaunt and I said, so I said, 'okay what do we do to fix this?'" said Sarah, a patient.

The fix for this was a stem-cell face lift. Dr. Steve Szczerba of Chicago Aesthetic Surgery Institute recommended that Sarah undergo a procedure, where he'd use her own adult stem cells to turn back the clock.

"A stem cell facelift is rejuvenating the face using grafted fat. Grafted fat has stem cells in it," Dr. Szczerba explains.

Grafted fat is transferred fat. Dr. Szczerba typically gets it from the patient's abdomen or inner thigh during liposuction.

"During that process of liposuction, we save the fat and take the fat and prepare it for grafting by removing the fluid. And the stem cells along with other grafted fat cells are injected into the face," says Dr. Szczerba.

He says it's not simply a fat transfer. Dr. Szcerba believes the stem cells, which are specialized cells that self renew, are actually working to make collagen and rejuvenate the skin.

"You can actually see the surface of the skin change," says the doctor. "Similar to that a chemical peel or a laser peel accomplishes in order to see change in your cheek area."

Click for more from My Fox Chicago.

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Stem cell face lift: Does it work?

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California Stem Cell Agency First: Big Pharma Hook Up

Posted: October 28, 2012 at 8:00 am


BURLINGAME, Ca. – For the first
time, a Big Pharma company has hooked into the $3 billion California
stem cell agency, a move that the agency described as a “watershed”
in its efforts to commercialize stem cell research.

The involvement of GlaxoSmithKline
comes via a partnership with ViaCyte, Inc., of San Diego, Ca., in a
clinical trial, partially financed with a $10.1 million grant today
from the stem cell agency. The trial involves a human embryonic stem
cell product that has “the potential to essentially cure patients
with type 1 diabetes and provide a powerful new treatment for those
with type 2 disease,” ViaCyte said. Scientific reviewers for the agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM),  “characterized the goal of the proposed therapy as as the 'holy grail' of diabetes treatments.”
CIRM Director Jeff Sheehy, who is co
vice chair of the agency's grant review group, said the ViaCyte product
could be manufactured on a large scale and basically involves “taking
(small) pouches and popping them into patients.”
The stem cell agency's award triggered
arrangements between ViaCyte and Glaxo that will bring in financial
and other support from Glaxo. The exact amount of cash was not
disclosed. CIRM said Glaxo will “co-fund and, assuming success,
conduct the pivotal trial and commercialize the product.” Under the terms of the grant, Glaxo and ViaCyte will have to meet CIRM milestones in order to secure continued funding. 
Following board approval, Jason
Gardner, head of the Glaxo stem cell unit, characterized the
arrangement as a partnership. He told the board that the company
intends to develop a “sustainable pipeline.”
Gardner credited CIRM President Alan
Trounson with being instrumental in helping to put the arrangement
together, beginning with their first meeting three years ago.
Trounson said the deal will resonate not only in California but
throughout the world.
Paul Laikind, president of ViaCyte,
also addressed the board, stressing the importance of CIRM's
financial support for his company over past years. It has received
$26.3 million (not including the latest grant) from California taxpayers at a time when stem cell
funding was nearly dried up. He noted that small companies such as ViaCyte do not have the resources to carry a product through the
final stages of clinical trials and subsequent production. Gardner also said,

“When the commercial funding avenues
have become much more risk averse, CIRM support (has ensured) that
promising, innovative cell therapy technologies are fully explored.”

In comments to the California Stem Cell
Report, Elona Baum, CIRM's general counsel and vice president for
business development, described the award as a “watershed” for
the eight-year-old agency, linking the agency with Big Phama for the
first time. Much of CIRM's current efforts are aimed at stimulating
financial commitments from large companies, which are necessary to
commercialize stem cell research.
Arrangements between Big Pharma and
small companies are not unusual and can vanish quickly. However, the
CIRM-ViaCyte-Glaxo deal sends a message to other Big Pharma companies
and smaller ones, perhaps clearing away concerns that have hindered
other deals that could involve the stem cell agency.
The stem cell agency is pushing hard to
fulfill the promises of the 2004 ballot campaign that created CIRM.
Voters were led to believe that stem cell cures were virtually around
the corner. None have been developed to date.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Jt1JalGURys/california-stem-cell-agency-first-big.html

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Trounson Going Halftime in January and February

Posted: October 28, 2012 at 8:00 am


BURLINGAME, Ca. -- The president of the $3 billion California stem cell agency, Alan Trounson, will be working half-time while living in Australia during January and February of next year.

Trounson told the governing board of the agency of his plans at the beginning of its meeting here morning. He said he needs to spend more time with his family, which lives in Melbourne.

Trounson has an 11-year-old son with whom Trounson said he hasn't spend much time in the last 18 months.  Trounson said he intends to teach his son to surf. Trounson's daughter also will be getting married in February.

Meanwhile, directors are currently discussing approval of grants in its $20 million-plus strategic partnership round.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Qvgdz9k9XZ0/trounson-going-halftime-in-january-and.html

Posted in Stem Cells, Stem Cell Therapy | Comments Off on Trounson Going Halftime in January and February

Texas Science Flap Cited as California Stem Cell Agency Eyes its Own Processes

Posted: October 28, 2012 at 8:00 am


OAKLAND, Ca. – Meeting against a
backdrop from Texas that involves conflicts of interest and mass
resignations of grant reviewers, a task force of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency today began a partial examination of its
own grant approval process, specifically focusing on appeals by
rejected applicants.

The president of the California
organization, Alan Trounson, told the task force that it was dealing
with a “very serious matter” that in some ways is similar to what
happened in Texas. He said the science community is “very much
concerned.”
The situation in Texas involves the
five-year-old Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, which like
the California stem cell agency, formally known as the California
Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), has $3 billion of borrowed
money to use to finance research.
The chief scientific officer of the
Texas organization, Nobel laureate Alfred Gilman, resigned Oct. 12
during a flap about its attempts “to simultaneously support basic
research and nurture companies.”
Gilman's departure was triggered by a
$20 million award made without scientific review. Reviewer
resignations followed with letters that accused the Texas group of
“hucksterism” and dishonoring the peer review process. (Writer Monya Baker has a good overview today in Nature.)
The situation in Texas came to a head
AFTER the governing board of the California research group created
its task force. The problems in Texas are bigger and not identical to
those in California, which mainly involve the free-wheeling nature of the appeal process, not an entire lack of scientific review.
Nonetheless, this past summer, directors of the California agency for
the first time approved an award that was rejected twice by
reviewers. The award went to StemCells, Inc., of Newark, Ca., which
now has won $40 million, ranking the company No. 1 in
awards to business from CIRM.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles Times
business columnist Michael Hiltzik characterized the StemCells, Inc.,
award as “redolent of cronyism.”
Today's session of the CIRM task force
focused primarily on an aspect of the agency's appeals process that
CIRM labels as “extraordinary petitions.” They are letters which
rejected applicants use to challenge decisions by grant reviewers.
The researchers follow up with public appearances before the
governing board, often trailing squads of patients making emotional
appeals.
Both researchers and patients have a
right under state law to appear before the CIRM board to discuss any
matter. CIRM, however, is trying to come up with changes in the
appeal process that will make it clear to researchers on what the
grounds the board might overturn reviewers' decisions. The agency is
also defining those grounds narrowly and aiming at eliminating
appeals based on differences in scientific opinion.
At today's meeting, CIRM Director Jeff
Sheehy, a patient advocate and co-vice chair of the grants review
group, said peer review is an “extraordinary way of analyzing
science, but it is not always perfect.” However, he also said that
“as a board we are not respecting input” from scientists and thus
allow the perception that we can be “persuaded against the judgment
of scientists.”
CIRM Director Oswald Steward, director
of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine, agreed with a
suggestion by Sheehy that board must act with “discipline” when
faced with appeals by rejected applicants. Steward said, 

“The
process has gotten a little out of hand.”

It was a sentiment that drew no dissent
at today's 90-minute meeting.
Missing from today's meeting, which had
teleconference locations in San Francisco, Irvine, La Jolla and Palo
Alto, were any of the hundreds of California scientists whose
livelihoods are likely to be affected by changes in the grant
approval process. Also absent were California biotech businesses,
along with the only representative on the task force from CIRM's
scientific reviewers.
Our comment? When researchers and
businesses that have millions at stake fail to show up for key
sessions that set the terms on how they can get the money, it is a
sad commentary on their professional and business acumen.
Bert Lubin, a CIRM director and
chairman of the task force, indicated he would like to have two more
meetings of the task force prior to making recommendations to a full
board workshop in January with possible final action later that
month. Lubin, CEO of Children's Hospital in Oakland, said the matter
is “really important for the credibility of our whole
organization.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/A3HGGTzzso8/texas-science-flap-cited-as-california.html

Posted in Stem Cells, Stem Cell Therapy | Comments Off on Texas Science Flap Cited as California Stem Cell Agency Eyes its Own Processes

California Stem Cell Agency First: Big Pharma Hook Up

Posted: October 28, 2012 at 7:59 am


BURLINGAME, Ca. – For the first
time, a Big Pharma company has hooked into the $3 billion California
stem cell agency, a move that the agency described as a “watershed”
in its efforts to commercialize stem cell research.

The involvement of GlaxoSmithKline
comes via a partnership with ViaCyte, Inc., of San Diego, Ca., in a
clinical trial, partially financed with a $10.1 million grant today
from the stem cell agency. The trial involves a human embryonic stem
cell product that has “the potential to essentially cure patients
with type 1 diabetes and provide a powerful new treatment for those
with type 2 disease,” ViaCyte said. Scientific reviewers for the agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM),  “characterized the goal of the proposed therapy as as the 'holy grail' of diabetes treatments.”
CIRM Director Jeff Sheehy, who is co
vice chair of the agency's grant review group, said the ViaCyte product
could be manufactured on a large scale and basically involves “taking
(small) pouches and popping them into patients.”
The stem cell agency's award triggered
arrangements between ViaCyte and Glaxo that will bring in financial
and other support from Glaxo. The exact amount of cash was not
disclosed. CIRM said Glaxo will “co-fund and, assuming success,
conduct the pivotal trial and commercialize the product.” Under the terms of the grant, Glaxo and ViaCyte will have to meet CIRM milestones in order to secure continued funding. 
Following board approval, Jason
Gardner, head of the Glaxo stem cell unit, characterized the
arrangement as a partnership. He told the board that the company
intends to develop a “sustainable pipeline.”
Gardner credited CIRM President Alan
Trounson with being instrumental in helping to put the arrangement
together, beginning with their first meeting three years ago.
Trounson said the deal will resonate not only in California but
throughout the world.
Paul Laikind, president of ViaCyte,
also addressed the board, stressing the importance of CIRM's
financial support for his company over past years. It has received
$26.3 million (not including the latest grant) from California taxpayers at a time when stem cell
funding was nearly dried up. He noted that small companies such as ViaCyte do not have the resources to carry a product through the
final stages of clinical trials and subsequent production. Gardner also said,

“When the commercial funding avenues
have become much more risk averse, CIRM support (has ensured) that
promising, innovative cell therapy technologies are fully explored.”

In comments to the California Stem Cell
Report, Elona Baum, CIRM's general counsel and vice president for
business development, described the award as a “watershed” for
the eight-year-old agency, linking the agency with Big Phama for the
first time. Much of CIRM's current efforts are aimed at stimulating
financial commitments from large companies, which are necessary to
commercialize stem cell research.
Arrangements between Big Pharma and
small companies are not unusual and can vanish quickly. However, the
CIRM-ViaCyte-Glaxo deal sends a message to other Big Pharma companies
and smaller ones, perhaps clearing away concerns that have hindered
other deals that could involve the stem cell agency.
The stem cell agency is pushing hard to
fulfill the promises of the 2004 ballot campaign that created CIRM.
Voters were led to believe that stem cell cures were virtually around
the corner. None have been developed to date.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Jt1JalGURys/california-stem-cell-agency-first-big.html

Posted in Stem Cells, Stem Cell Therapy | Comments Off on California Stem Cell Agency First: Big Pharma Hook Up

Trounson Going Halftime in January and February

Posted: October 28, 2012 at 7:59 am


BURLINGAME, Ca. -- The president of the $3 billion California stem cell agency, Alan Trounson, will be working half-time while living in Australia during January and February of next year.

Trounson told the governing board of the agency of his plans at the beginning of its meeting here morning. He said he needs to spend more time with his family, which lives in Melbourne.

Trounson has an 11-year-old son with whom Trounson said he hasn't spend much time in the last 18 months.  Trounson said he intends to teach his son to surf. Trounson's daughter also will be getting married in February.

Meanwhile, directors are currently discussing approval of grants in its $20 million-plus strategic partnership round.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Qvgdz9k9XZ0/trounson-going-halftime-in-january-and.html

Posted in Stem Cells, Stem Cell Therapy | Comments Off on Trounson Going Halftime in January and February

Texas Science Flap Cited as California Stem Cell Agency Eyes its Own Processes

Posted: October 28, 2012 at 7:59 am


OAKLAND, Ca. – Meeting against a
backdrop from Texas that involves conflicts of interest and mass
resignations of grant reviewers, a task force of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency today began a partial examination of its
own grant approval process, specifically focusing on appeals by
rejected applicants.

The president of the California
organization, Alan Trounson, told the task force that it was dealing
with a “very serious matter” that in some ways is similar to what
happened in Texas. He said the science community is “very much
concerned.”
The situation in Texas involves the
five-year-old Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, which like
the California stem cell agency, formally known as the California
Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), has $3 billion of borrowed
money to use to finance research.
The chief scientific officer of the
Texas organization, Nobel laureate Alfred Gilman, resigned Oct. 12
during a flap about its attempts “to simultaneously support basic
research and nurture companies.”
Gilman's departure was triggered by a
$20 million award made without scientific review. Reviewer
resignations followed with letters that accused the Texas group of
“hucksterism” and dishonoring the peer review process. (Writer Monya Baker has a good overview today in Nature.)
The situation in Texas came to a head
AFTER the governing board of the California research group created
its task force. The problems in Texas are bigger and not identical to
those in California, which mainly involve the free-wheeling nature of the appeal process, not an entire lack of scientific review.
Nonetheless, this past summer, directors of the California agency for
the first time approved an award that was rejected twice by
reviewers. The award went to StemCells, Inc., of Newark, Ca., which
now has won $40 million, ranking the company No. 1 in
awards to business from CIRM.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles Times
business columnist Michael Hiltzik characterized the StemCells, Inc.,
award as “redolent of cronyism.”
Today's session of the CIRM task force
focused primarily on an aspect of the agency's appeals process that
CIRM labels as “extraordinary petitions.” They are letters which
rejected applicants use to challenge decisions by grant reviewers.
The researchers follow up with public appearances before the
governing board, often trailing squads of patients making emotional
appeals.
Both researchers and patients have a
right under state law to appear before the CIRM board to discuss any
matter. CIRM, however, is trying to come up with changes in the
appeal process that will make it clear to researchers on what the
grounds the board might overturn reviewers' decisions. The agency is
also defining those grounds narrowly and aiming at eliminating
appeals based on differences in scientific opinion.
At today's meeting, CIRM Director Jeff
Sheehy, a patient advocate and co-vice chair of the grants review
group, said peer review is an “extraordinary way of analyzing
science, but it is not always perfect.” However, he also said that
“as a board we are not respecting input” from scientists and thus
allow the perception that we can be “persuaded against the judgment
of scientists.”
CIRM Director Oswald Steward, director
of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine, agreed with a
suggestion by Sheehy that board must act with “discipline” when
faced with appeals by rejected applicants. Steward said, 

“The
process has gotten a little out of hand.”

It was a sentiment that drew no dissent
at today's 90-minute meeting.
Missing from today's meeting, which had
teleconference locations in San Francisco, Irvine, La Jolla and Palo
Alto, were any of the hundreds of California scientists whose
livelihoods are likely to be affected by changes in the grant
approval process. Also absent were California biotech businesses,
along with the only representative on the task force from CIRM's
scientific reviewers.
Our comment? When researchers and
businesses that have millions at stake fail to show up for key
sessions that set the terms on how they can get the money, it is a
sad commentary on their professional and business acumen.
Bert Lubin, a CIRM director and
chairman of the task force, indicated he would like to have two more
meetings of the task force prior to making recommendations to a full
board workshop in January with possible final action later that
month. Lubin, CEO of Children's Hospital in Oakland, said the matter
is “really important for the credibility of our whole
organization.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/A3HGGTzzso8/texas-science-flap-cited-as-california.html

Posted in Stem Cells, Stem Cell Therapy | Comments Off on Texas Science Flap Cited as California Stem Cell Agency Eyes its Own Processes

Page 195«..1020..194195196197..200210..»