Stem Cell Technologies
Campaigners protesting against researcher Oliver Brüstle’s attempt to patent embryonic stem cells.
Stem cell technologies have become big business with the biotechnology industry attracting considerable investment by those hopeful of its capacity to produce lucrative treatments for life-threatening diseases and a variety of ailments. This influx of private investment has filled something of a gap in stem cell funding created by legislation in the US in recent times preventing federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Now that this restriction has been lifted to some extent the funding of research and development in stem cell technologies is set to increase even further.
The collaboration between many biotechnology companies and universities has also allowed direct funding of stem cell technology developments with a ready market in overseas and US clinics. These stem cell technologies take the form of specialized cell culture media, cell separation products, cell population specific biomarkers, and pharmaceuticals to affect stem cell activity and location. As an example of the scope of the market, a quick look at products offered by StemCell Technologies, a privately-owned biotech company reveals over a thousand products available for purchase for use in stem cell clinics and research laboratories.
Necessity Breeds Invention
Often these stem cell technologies have been developed by necessity as researchers struggled to isolate stem cells from tissue or blood, or required a way of checking the presence of injected stem cells at a specific location after transplant. Similarly, ways of culturing stem cells in the laboratory for transplantation have become more efficient and controlled using a variety of scaffolding materials, cell culture media, and substances influencing cell growth. Many biotechnology companies began as small organizations whose remit was to create research materials for specific disease researchers, such as those working in cancer research. University departments and individual scientists have also developed stem cell technologies out of necessity. These products and techniques, once refined, were then recognized as saleable commodities of interest to other researchers in the field and, as time has gone on, the market for stem cell technologies has mushroomed into an industry in its own right.
Patenting Human Life
The legislation surrounding stem cell research has struggled to keep up with the rapid expansion in knowledge, and potential applications meaning that much of the industry has benefited from a lack of regulation. However, an attempt by German scientist, Oliver Brüstle, to patent a stem cell process designed to treat Parkinson’s Disease was denied in the European Court of Justice after being challenged by Greenpeace on the grounds that it amounted to a copyright application for human life.
The decision that embryonic stem cells which retain the capacity to develop into human beings cannot be patented could affect the decisions made by many companies to fund certain stem cell research projects. Concerns that a product or technique may be developed which cannot be tightly controlled and is instead open to copying by other stem cell scientists may mean that focus switches to developing medications based on stem cells, or the technology for isolating, and culturing the stem cells rather than the cells themselves.
Continue Reading –> Stem Cell Harvesting Technologies
