The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Guidelines being framed to regulate stem cell research

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 30, 2007
ePaper


<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 ALT="Click Here"></A> </NOSCRIPT>

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Guidelines being framed to regulate stem cell research

Staff Reporter

First international meet in India of stem cell scientists begins

SCIENTISTS SPEAK: Alok Shrivastava, project director, Centre for Stem Cell Research (left), and D. Balasubramanian, president, SCRFI, addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Monday. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE: The first international meet in India of scientists engaged in stem cell research began here on Monday to take stock of the rapid advances being made in this field in the public and private sectors.

D. Balasubramanian, president of the Stem Cell Research Forum of India (SCRFI), said stem cells and regenerative medicine, though still in the research stage, was rapidly moving toward the development of effective cures for a host of diseases by targeting the cause of the diseases.

Addressing presspersons before the inauguration of the four-day conference, Dr. Balasubramanian, director of research L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, who has headed the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said currently 15 centres are engaged in stem cell research in the country, with stem cells drawn from umbilical cord blood, adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells.

Multi-centre study

The first ever multi-centre study of applications of embryonic stem cells in myocardial infarction (heart attacks) is to begin shortly at five centres across the country: Air Force Medical College, Pune; Army Referral and Research Hospital, New Delhi; CMC, Vellore; PGI, Chandigarh; and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.

CMC, Vellore, will be the nodal coordinating centre for this research initiative, which will cover over 300 patients.

Dr. Balasubramanian who is also chairman of the National Task Force on Stem Cell Research, said the SCRFI, a consortium of all stem cell research initiatives in India, was working with the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council for Medical Research to frame guidelines that would eventually become the law regulating this field of medicine. A public debate in five cities was planned in mid-2007 to frame rules and regulations, covering ethics, cGMP (current Good Management Practices) in manufacturing and laboratory and clinical research, he said.

The question was whether this field could be covered under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, or was an exclusive regulatory body required to monitor stem cell research, he said.

Satish Totey, director of the Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine, said the stem cell therapies market in India was expected to touch $20 billion by 2010. The market was estimated to be around $540 million, growing annually at 15 per cent.

Increase in allocation

Alok Shrivastava, of CMC, Vellore, said the 11th Plan was expected to see a 300 per cent increase in the budgetary allocation for stem cell research.

The SCRFI officially represents India as a member of the International Consortium of Stem Cell Networks (ICSCN). The conference is being attended by 350 delegates, including 40 international delegates. Key speakers include Inder Verma of Salk Institute of Biological Studies, San Diego, California; Stephen Minger from the U.K.; Christine Mummery from the Netherlands.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka