Embryonic Stem Cells Still Haven’t Performed Miracles

Subsidies: A firm that received tax dollars to pursue embryonic stem cell research abandons what was touted as the most promising avenue of research for medical miracles. Then there's that "conscience thing."

When Geron Corp. announced in January 2010 that the first clinical trial using its embryonic stem cells to treat an actual human patient was under way, its stock shot up 6.4%.

Geron got the first Food and Drug Administration license to use embryonic stem cells to treat people in a clinical trial, in this case patients with a spinal cord injury.

Last week Geron announced that it was ending the trial, which had treated a total of five patients, and pulling out of the embryonic stem cell business as the prospects for financial and scientific success dimmed.

Funds and talent would now be focused on the company's two cancer drugs. Geron would eliminate 66 jobs, 40% of its workforce.

"This company would not walk away from this trial in the absence of an unexpected complication or safety concern, if there was any evidence that it was working," said Dr. Daniel Salomon, associate professor in the department of molecular and experimental medicine at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.

Geron insists the science was sound, just that the finances weren't there. Yet the fact remains that embryonic stem cell research has not exactly been underfunded, publicly or privately, yet has produced little in the way of actual therapies for real patients.

The left wing is in bed with much of big business.

They have a symbiotic relationship. Left wing affiliation gets the left wing off the back of any big business that humors them. They consequently have all sorts of save the earth, animals, vegetarians, etc., type stuff in their marketing. It’s the same as the Democratic party’s populist “give the people what they want” mentality. If we’re so “for” the environment, green stuff, affirmative action, etc., then logically we’re not a “bad” company - we’re one of the “good” guys. They send the signal to the left wing and to government - “you just tell us what to do and we’ll do it and pass the costs along to our customers”.

Having big business behind their efforts tremendously helps the left wing, since no sane person who planned on working for an honest living would give them a dollar. Look at how wealthy liberals and downtown NYC corporate interests humored and facilitated OWS.

The last thing big business wants is to eliminate the need for their healthcare products without creating new markets and products. So a miracle cure is exactly what big business does not want. Such inventions go nowhere inside companies. Big business loves the idea of a product that does not cure something, but just alleviates some symptoms and allows the patient to live their whole life and keep paying for their symptom relief. Patented, of course, so prices can be set ridiculously high for a couple decades. This is all purported to help “defray the cost of research”, but most pharma spend as much in marketing as they do in research. With old pills going off patent, oftentimes the sales function (the guys and gals who constantly badger your doctor and seem to always be sitting in his office with a briefcase full of cups and calendars and propaganda) is outsourced to contract sales companies who specialize in lower per-call costs. The number of times the sales force can berate a given doctor per year is regulated by law, and companies put forth large efforts to keep track of their visits precisely to maximize their effect.

Just another Solyndra. Those bastards at Geron knew their tech was crap and they got Obama's shot in the arm just long enough to cover their bets and get out.

Embryonic stem cell research is as criminal an enterprise as is phony green tech -- both were and are technological crap that could never produce anything of value, and the crony capitalists knew it all along

FReegards!

If there are any new miraculous cures, they would get to the market with or without the big pharma companies. What is preventing biotech drugs and practices like stem cell therapies from getting to market, is whether they work or not. So far, it most of the successful stem cell work as been with adult stem cells, not embryonic.

They will never perform as good as adult stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are not the patients’ own cells, meaning a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs.

Further embryonic stem cells most often go cancerous in those that had the misfortune to have them injected into themselves.

Not so with your own stem cells.

this is a nice conspiracy theory on big business, but it doesn't apply to the biotech industry. Much of the research and development is being done by very small companies and worldwide. Big pharma companies are not buying up these small companies and preventing these new drugs from coming to market.

If there are any new miraculous cures, they would get to the market with or without the big pharma companies. What is preventing biotech drugs and practices like stem cell therapies from getting to market, is whether they work or not. So far, it most of the successful stem cell work as been with adult stem cells, not embryonic.

I agree. Small businesses, like the "wild west", are just running with an idea trying to make a go of it, so they "ain't holdin' back nothin'", I would think. They don't have a huge revenue stream like big business, so they're not addicted to it. As they become large, however, like an Amgen (well over 10B in revenue), they've also got to protect their Revenue stream. Hopefully they can realize that it's more easy to sustain revenue by pursuing other goals once a goal is reached, of which there are many (though this may require a lot of dramatic changes inside the company), than to take a single goal that was attained and start relying too much on extending it's revenue.

Also, to a small company, dollars are precious. R & D is pursued seriously and as cost effectively as possible. In large companies, of course, cost effectiveness is always a challenge.

I have a family member who is in the stem cell field; I agree that this is a very good avenue of research. IMHO, I think, like you, that there are going to be breakthroughs as you describe. Hopefully they will come to market in a good way.

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