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Who are the embryonic [stem cell] cheerleaders?

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

In a post titled Margolis: Beware the Embryonic Cheerleaders, californiastemcellreport refers to a blog by Chris Scott, who in turn refers to George Margolis:

Margolis also hails the "refreshing" honesty of such folks as Jamie Thomson, George Daley, Doug Melton and Shinya Yamanaka. You can find the piece here.

IPBiz notes Shinya Yamanaka has been saying some things californiastemcellreport ought to heed:

Last week, Yamanaka told reporters in Tokyo that aspects of the iPS discovery - though not stem cell therapy, which might be a decade away from clinical application, even if the research continues going well - have reached another breakthrough point.

"The other applications, like toxicology and drug development, it's ready to go," he said.

"We can use iPS cells in these applications today, if somebody can pay a lot of money - like pharmaceutical companies."

Thus, IPBiz notes to californiastemcellreport

#1. Therapeutic treatments from human embryonic stem cells, whether through iPS or SCNT, are a long way off. Yamanaka is telling you this. Trounson admits this.

#2. The use of human stem cell lines for OTHER purposes, including screening, toxicology, and development of drugs, is around the corner.

#3. Pay attention to who is getting the patents, and who is not.

Separately, of Melton note the following.

It's Time to Stop the Hypocrisy over Stem Cell Patents - Part III

Melton enters WARF re-exam fray, but does this matter?

Query: If californiastemcellreport writes that Yamanaka accepted a grant from CIRM, when Yamanaka did not accept a grant from CIRM, does californiastemcellreport become an embryonic cheerleader?

Note Yamanaka's published application 20060088569, assigned to GC Corporation and 20060292620, assigned to Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. See also: (WO/2006/115080) GROWTH PROMOTING AGENT FOR PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL, first inventor, Shinya Yamanaka. See also page 565 of Science 26 October 2007.

Full post as published by IPBiz on February 12, 2008 (boomark / email).