There is innovative science being conducted that intends to inject stem cells into the brains of patients disabled by stroke, and after the first round of ReNeuron Group’s ReN001 stem cell therapy trials, it has been cleared to progress to the next stage after the treatment raised no safety concerns in the first three candidates. However, the controversy over whether this treatment direction is ethical remains hotly debated.
Keith Muir from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology stated:
“ReN001 has the potential to address a very significant unmet medical need in disabled stroke patients and I am pleased that our team is involved in this pioneering clinical trial. We are pleased that there have been no safety issues from the first dose cohort in the PISCES trial and we look forward to evaluating further patients at a higher dose.”
ReNeuron’s chief executive Michael Hunt continued by saying that the clearance was an important milestone, and the preliminary data also backed up the group’s other therapeutic programs using the CTX neural stem cell line that formed the basis of the ReN001 stroke treatment.
“Data from the laboratory safety tests, neurological examinations and neurofunctional tests conducted thus far indicate that the ReN001 treatment is safe and well-tolerated at the initial dose.”
The procedure involves injecting ReNeuron’s neural stem cells into patients’ brains in the hope they will repair areas damaged by stroke, thereby improving both mental and physical function. It uses stem cells derived from human fetuses rather than embryos, which were used in a stem cell trial to treat patients with spinal cord injuries by Geron Corp of the United States.
The data experts add:
“The data generated thus far are all the more remarkable, in our view, given the fact that the patients receiving the cells have not been subject to immunosuppression. We look forward to the data from the next cohort within this study.”
According to many groups, stem cell research is one of the new frontiers and scientists should have the opportunity to fully explore it, without restrictions and limitations. Fetal stem cells are a discovery that someday will be used to save thousands of lives. There are no valid scientific arguments to say that they shouldn’t be used. Overall, there is no reason to eliminate fetal stem cell research according to many experts.
However, there is a flip side to that coin. The organ market is an example against stem cell research used by many anti-abortionist groups. They maintain that doctors change abortion procedures and harm living babies in order to obtain “perfect” cell samples. Not only are both these things illegal, but also it’s more painful and dangerous for the patient.
They also say that doctors encourage the sale of babies and baby body parts on the black market. Many sources claim that a single liver sells for between $125 and $150, a brain for between $150 and $999, and that you can buy a whole specimen, unprocessed for $70.
Whether incidents like this actually take place or not, they are a sinister reminder of what money can entice people to do.
Aside, ReNeuron is a leading, clinical-stage stem cell business. Their primary objective is the development of novel stem cell therapies targeting areas of significant unmet or poorly met medical need.
They’ve continued to use unique stem cell technologies to develop cell-based therapies for significant disease conditions where the cells can be readily administered “off-the-shelf” to any eligible patient without the need for additional drug treatments.
Written by Sy Kraft