[ABC News] Geron Announcement Throws Stem Cell Research into Question - 줄기세포 시대의 상징적 종말을 알리는 신호?

[죽순]

14일 세계최초로 인간 배아줄기세포 임상시험을 진행중이던 제론사가 줄기세포 사업을 접겠다고 발표했습니다.

먼저 말씀드린대로 이 뉴스는 굉장히 충격적인 뉴스로 받아들여졌습니다. 그러나 국내 언론에서는 간단한 단신 정도로만 취급하는군요.

이 발표 후 제론사는 물론이려니와 ACT를 비롯한 경쟁회사들의 주가도 많이 떨어졌습니다. 그러나 우리나라 줄기세포 관련주들은 경쟁사가 사업을 접었으니 호재라면서 주가가 더 올랐어요. 큰손 마음대로지요. 줄기세포 주가 띄우려는 참에 저런 뉴스가 나왔으니 악재로서 찬물을 끼얹은 셈인데, 우리나라에서는 악재를 호재로 승화시키고 있습니다.

제론사의 줄기세포 사업 철수와 관련한 ABC News 기사 하나를 더 올립니다.

그중에서 쪼금 심한 이야기

While Geron says it hasn't given up on the promise of stem cell research, many experts say the announcement signals a symbolic end to the era of embryonic stem cell research that many researchers worked so hard to launch.

많은 전문가들은 제론사의 발표는 줄기세포 시대의 상징적 종말을 알리는 신호라고 말합니다.

다른 의견도 있겠지만 이런 의견도 있다는 것은 알아야겠습니다.

출처 :

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/scientists-rethink-embryonic-stem-cell-research-geron-announcement/story?id=14966735

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Geron Announcement Throws Stem Cell Research into Question

This Aug. 10, 2001 file photo, shows the exterior of stem cell research leader Geron Corporation, a biotechnology firm, in Melo Park, Calif. (AP)

By LARA SALAHI (@LaraSalahiABC)

November 17, 2011

In the wake of a California-based research company's decision to drop the world's first clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells, many investigators who once held to the promise of stem cell research now wonder whether the field of embryonic stem cell research has been abandoned in the U.S. completely.

The company, Geron, which pioneered the field of embryonic stem cell research, announced its decision Monday to drop its study on stem cells for spinal cord injury.

Geron cited costs as the primary reason, saying the payoff of stem cell research wouldn't come close to other more lucrative projects. The company would be better off allocating financial resources to research for cancer therapies that are near completion in development, company representatives said.

While Geron says it hasn't given up on the promise of stem cell research, many experts say the announcement signals a symbolic end to the era of embryonic stem cell research that many researchers worked so hard to launch.

Many experts say they're not convinced that financial limits are only to blame.

"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. "The assumption has to be that they designed a study with a purposeful plan to complete it to a certain benchmark of efficacy and that they had the funds for that effort in hand."

In 2009, the Obama administration lifted former president George W. Bush's restrictions on funding for stem cell research, which expanded the financial limits of the field.

Geron's trial on therapies for spinal cord injury became the first embryonic stem cell based research approved in the U.S.

"Without seeing the data, one cannot be certain that there was not a clinical reason for stopping the trial," said Dr. Robertson Parkman, professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California.

Embryonic stem cells are considered so-called blank slates capable of transforming into any of the more than 200 distinct types of cells in the human body. Despite debates by pro-life members, embryonic cells have been considered by many scientists to hold the key to many therapies.

Sixty-two percent of Americans are in favor of conducting research that uses embryonic stem cells, according to a review of eight recent survey findings published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Fifty-five percent of Americans believe the federal government should fund the research, according to the findings, which was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

More Democrats than Republicans support the research, suggesting that the outcome of the 2012 election could affect future federal funding.

Many experts said the overhyped image of embryonic cells as the sword in the stone of scientific research has caused many to feel disillusioned.

(줄기세포 치료가 마법의 칼 엑스컬리버인 것처럼 구라치는 사람들 때문에 많은 사람들이 환멸을 느끼게 만들었다는 이야기)

"[Embryonic stem cells] are not ready for 'prime-time,'" said Dr. Bryon Petersen, professor in the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "There are too many variables about these cells that we just don't know about."

In many ways, these expectations have damaged the true potential of embryonic stem cell research, he said.

"Embryonic stem cell research as a scientific endeavor is absolutely legitimate, and its contributions to our understanding of development and tissue specificity cannot be dismissed as hype now," said Salomon. "It certainly is not an indictment of a whole scientific field just because Geron failed in their first trial."

Perhaps Geron's quest to find therapies for spinal cord injuries was too ambitious for the first U.S. embryonic stem cell trial, Petersen said. He called the endeavor "like trying to run when we can't even walk."

(첫번째 배아줄기세포 임상시험으로 척수마비 치료를 택한 제론사의 시도는 무모했다는 이야기. 걷지도 못하는 사람을 뛰게 만들려고 하는 격.)

"A lot of basic science needs to be completed before we go running off to the clinics with stem cells," said Petersen.

Although Geron has called it quits, more than a dozen other companies are holding on to their work with embryonic stem cells.

"Those that want to continue to move the field forward will want to know what Geron learned and what might be avoided to enhance the potential of success in the next trial," said Salomon.

[물허울]

주가 조작을 위해 이나라가 미쳤읍니다

[죽순]

줄기세포와 관련하여 기초부터 차근차근 다져나가는 연구는 앞으로도 지속되어야겠지요.

그러나 배아줄기세포 원천특허를 가지고 있으며 FDA로부터 최초로 배아줄기세포 임상시험 허가를 얻어낸 제론사가 줄기세포 사업을 접는다는 사실은 '줄기세포 구라 시대의 종말을 알리는 신호' 정도는 될 것 같습니다.

물론 종말이 가까워오면 거짓 선지자들은 더욱 날뛰겠지만...

[Mr.kim]

"많은 전문가들은 제론사의 발표는 줄기세포 시대의 상징적 종말을 알리는 신호라고 말합니다"
"첫번째 배아줄기세포 임상시험으로 척수마비 치료를 택한 제론사의 시도는 무모했다. 걷지도 못하는 사람을 뛰게 만들려고 하는 격"