In the classic musical comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the
Way to the Forum,” the Roman slave Pseudolus
tries to convince his master to free him by urging: “Be the first, start a trend!”
Well, a funny thing has happened to those who started the
trend toward that bright future of miracle cures from human embryonic stem cell
research (hESCR).
As noted a number of times on this site, the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) -- the nation’s largest funder of
stem cell research, founded for the express purpose of supporting human embryonic
stem cell research -- has in recent years been directing more and more of its
grants to adult and other non-embryonic stem cell research projects… a clear
sign that CIRM now sees adult stem cells and other alternatives as far more
likely to provide therapeutic benefits for patients than embryonic stem cells..
And as noted in the previous blog, hESCR celebrity advocate Michael
J. Fox recently conceded that a cure for his Parkinson’s will in all likelihood
come from somewhere other than embryonic stem cells.
Now comes news that the University of Massachusetts
Stem Cell Bank will close when it runs out of
money at the end of the year.
The reason? It’s
become obsolete, the Boston Globe reports,
citing state officials.
The bank was launched with much fanfare in 2008, with a $7.7
million dollar grant from the state government.
“It takes a few seconds to get a glimpse of the precious cargo
loaded into the laboratory cooler that Dr. Gary Stein opens, mostly because of
the frosty fog that billows out. Then the air clears, and boxes of samples come
into view: human embryonic stem cells,” the (Worcester) Telegram-Gazette breathlessly
began its report on the bank’s opening.
Like CIRM, the Massachusetts
stem cell bank was established as a defiant response to President Bush’s policy
of limited federal funding for hESCR. Also
like CIRM, its main emphasis was to be on human embryonic stem cells, in this
case their storage and maintenance.
“Originally, the bank was seen as a repository for embryonic
stem cell lines that were being created but were not eligible for federal
funding under Bush-era restrictions,” the Globe
reports. The Globe further notes that the bank was “a marquee piece of Governor
Deval Patrick’s effort to bolster the life sciences industry” in Massachusetts.
But today? Citing
Terence Flotte, dean of UMass
Medical School,
“the bank receives one to two requests a week,” the Globe reports.
Susan Windham-Bannister, president of the Massachusetts Life
Sciences Center, said the bank was “absolutely state of the art” when it first
opened.
But if the number of weekly requests just cited is any
indicator, today the bank is closing due to a pronounced indifference to what
it has to offer – human embryonic stem cell lines.
Zero interest, no withdrawals.
CIRM, Michael J Fox and now the University of Massachusetts
Stem Cell Bank, all rethinking and moving away from
hESCR or even closing altogether.
Starting a trend?
