Friday 19th January 2001
Medical researcher claims to have discovered new method for growing stem cells
A British medical researcher is claiming to have made a discovery which could end the debate over whether human embryoes should be grown to make spare body parts.
The theory seems so unlikely to many biologists that she has found it impossible to have it published in leading journals.
Her team now faces the task of trying to persuade the pharmaceutical giants that it is worth investing in.
Doctor Ilham Abuljadayel believes she has found a way to take ordinary blood and create stem cells which can be moulded to make healthy new cells for any organ of the body.
Her process bypasses the need for the controversial so-called "therapeutic cloning" method, where embryos are grown to provide human spare parts.
She says the potential is almost unlimited:
"The patient will be his own donor. It means that we can treat leukemia, lymphoma, many solid tumours and blood disorders", she said.
"I can produce other type of stem cells that can be used to treat diabetes or neuronal stem cells which can be used to treat alzheimer and Parkinson disease," she added.
So how much would a discovery like this be worth to a drug company which got involved at the start?
Morton Hareholt, an investment analyst with Barclays Stockbrokers said, "If you could target all those disease areas it could be billions."
Doctor Abuljadayel says she has been developing the process for a decade, so why were the big pharmaceutical companies not queuing up to invest?
"I did send it to publication a long time ago. The only way to get things done is to patent it and to make it into a commercial entity so that people become interested."
| "You need money to invest to take this work forward towards the clinical stage." | |
The main reason for any resistance amongst both the scientific and financial communities is the fact that the theory has yet to be clinically proven.
This could take years, with no guarantee of a return on the investment.
But the findings have been replicated by one of the world's leading contract research companies, Covance.
Spokesman Chris Springall says his organisation has set up a separate company with the aim of marketing and exploiting the discovery:
"The might of the drug companies is particularly required for very large scale trials in patients, and then with the manufacturing and marketing of the drugs.
"Undertaking small scale trials can be done by a small company like Covence".
Will this give the project the credibility it needs for the drugs giants to stump up their millions?
Maybe, but not yet, according to Moreton Hareholt from Barclays Stockbrokers:
"If you look at the whole biotech industry that is one gamble. You can make educated guesses and that is why we need to see this discovery come out with some more research.
"We can make the stem cells, but why they are actually being created we do not know yet," he said.
Whether medicine is an art or a science, if it wants to progress it needs a business plan.
Like any invention, the investment costs needed for a discovery to reach its full potential are enormous.
| "When the biotech industry is facing share price pressure they need to guide their financial flows into products that they really believe in." | |
|
|
|
