Red Herring claims the venture funding environment for stem cell research is worse than I had thought was the case: "I would say the venture community has more or less abandoned this area over the last five years ... Venture capitalists are willing to take financial risks, market risks, management risks, but the one thing they are not happy to do is to take political risks ... human embryonic stem cell treatments could receive clinical validation in five years, and could potentially be looking at a five to seven year market horizon. Others, however, were more skeptical. ... I think we really need to be responsible when we talk about the time frame of the technologies, such as saying they will be available in five years, because people will use it to discredit you, particularly after what's happened in Korea."

Link: http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=16135