Stem cell research under the microscope

The business of research into stem cells is very new and very speculative

By BBC World Business Report's Hugh Fraser

The US Congress has already approved legislation that would ban all stem cell research and the bill goes before the Senate next month - meanwhile stem cell research has been given the go-ahead in Britain.

Research on stem cells extracted from human embryos is one of the most controversial and at the same time most promising areas of the medical industry.

Stem cells are valuable because they have not yet 'decided' what function they will develop into in the body and it may be possible, for example, to use them to regenerate cells in the brain, or in muscles such as the heart, or in nerves or kidneys.

But if companies do not have the incentive of being able to cure rich Americans in their home market, they are far less likely to put big money into developing the treatments.

Keeping quiet

The whole subject of research using human embryos is so sensitive that companies working in the field tread very softly.

The usual corporate publicity machine has gone into reverse, according to Dr. Art Caplan of the Centre for Bioethics at the University of Philadelphia.

He said companies often keep quiet about their investment in this area as the topic of stem cell research is tied into the battle being fought over the acceptability of abortion in the United States.

"They may quietly invest behind the scenes in a small biotech company but not trump that fact to investors or to the press," he said.

"In other countries there has certainly been investment in the UK and Sweden, in China, in India and Singapore and I think there will be significant money going into these areas to see what can be delivered in terms of the promise," he added.

Growing sector

By contrast with America, the UK now has the most liberal laws in the Western world, something that has not gone unnoticed by campaigners such as Anthony Ozmic of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child.

"I don't think that it does the scientific community in this country any credit to be going down an unethical path which has been condemned by most eminent persons in the United States and in European spheres," he said.

For British scientists and companies, the decision in the House of Lords to allow stem cell research is good news.

Simon Best of Ardana Bioscience in Edinburgh believes that the few hundred British jobs in this field, will soon multiply.

"I think a few hundred scientists will become a few thousand and those will be a few thousand scientists with relatively well paid jobs," he said.

"But those few thousand jobs will I think then in five to ten years time magnify again until this creates a new sector of the pharmaceutical industry."

Small firm initiatives

The business of research into stem cells is very new and very speculative.

Even if cells can be generated to replace damaged organs, they still have to be introduced into the right part of the body, they have to stay there, and it all has to be done at a realistic cost.

Commercial research is mainly being carried out by small companies such as the UK's ReNeuron, which is seeking a cure for Alzheimer's disease which attacks the brain.

Large companies tend to wait and see what will develop in new areas and this has happened in stem cell research, according to ReNeuron chief executive Dr. Martin Edwards.

"I think they have been watching with great interest to see what's going to happen from the work that's been done in the small companies," he said.

Demand versus opposition

If human stem cells do provide the key to the most advanced medicine of the future, it would be strange indeed if those treatments were not available in the United States.

Dr Art Caplan does not believe this will happen.

"I don't think it is politically possible if the technology works, if you can get someone out of a wheelchair, if you can restore memory capacity to someone with Alzheimer¿s disease, help someone with Parkinson¿s avoid paralysis," he said.

"The demand for that coming here would be so enormous that no political movement, including the powerful movement in the States of anti-abortion pro-life sentiment, would be able to resist it."

If the American Senate does indeed ban research on human stem cells, there are still many unanswered questions: would treatment using cells be legal in America? Would patents be enforceable?