Stem Cell Treatments in China
InformationWeek looks at one of the organizations that's putting stem cell research into clinical practice in China. The absence of stifling regulation means that this work proceeds much more rapidly, but rigorous data tends to come later in the process. The benefits of patient choice and researcher freedom should be obvious, however. "The company, Beike Biotechnology, uses nonembryonic stem cells to treat a variety of ailments including heart disease and neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, muscular dystrophy, and optic nerve hypoplasia, a primary cause of blindness in children. Beike's technology, which hasn't been subjected to double-blind clinical trials of the sort required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, uses a combination of umbilical cord cells and stem cells derived from the patient being treated." The article notes that the company is working towards the near future use of induced pluripotent stem cells in therapy - a pace of development that is impossible in the present US regulatory system.
Link: http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/compliance/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=209902855