Stem cell guidelines on the way

You can now have your say about regulations on bringing stem cell therapies to the clinic. A special task force set up to create guidelines for bringing stem cell therapies from bench to bedside will be accepting public commentary on the guidelines, continuing until this fall, the group announced today at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) here in Philadelphia. The task force's primary goals are to create guidelines that will help basic researchers

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share
You can now have your say about regulations on bringing stem cell therapies to the clinic. A special task force set up to create guidelines for bringing stem cell therapies from bench to bedside will be accepting public commentary on the guidelines, continuing until this fall, the group announced today at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) here in Philadelphia. The task force's primary goals are to create guidelines that will help basic researchers address the regulatory challenges of stem cell therapies. In particular, the task force of more than 30 members from 13 countries will address issues of standardizing stem cell populations -- making sure each line is uncontaminated by others, and that the cells are at a uniform state of differentiation. Similar issues were discussed in April at a linkurl:meeting;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54544/ of the Food and Drug Administration. But it seems that the ISSCR is no closer to any concrete guidelines than the FDA. Several members of the audience today raised questions about how ISSCR intended to enforce its regulations, what specific terms in the preliminary draft of guidelines mean, and what impact the regulations will have on global regulatory groups. Task force leader linkurl:Olle Lindvall,;http://stemstroke.eu/partners/olle-lindvall from the University of Lund, in Sweden, replied that the group did not yet have the answers. Lindvall said the task force appreciates the FDA's work in parsing out regulating cell-based therapies, but that the ISSCR guidelines are intended to have broader impact and be an international document. You can post comments to the draft guidelines on the ISSCR Web site linkurl:here.;http://www.isscr.org/clinical_trans/index.cfm By the end of the year the task force plans to have a finalized version of the document. With several stem cell-based therapies chomping at the bit to enter clinical trials, let's hope the guidelines appear sooner rather than later.
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Andrea Gawrylewski

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
May digest 2025 cover
May 2025, Issue 1

Study Confirms Safety of Genetically Modified T Cells

A long-term study of nearly 800 patients demonstrated a strong safety profile for T cells engineered with viral vectors.

View this Issue
iStock

TaqMan Probe & Assays: Unveil What's Possible Together

Thermo Fisher Logo
Meet Aunty and Tackle Protein Stability Questions in Research and Development

Meet Aunty and Tackle Protein Stability Questions in Research and Development

Unchained Labs
Detecting Residual Cell Line-Derived DNA with Droplet Digital PCR

Detecting Residual Cell Line-Derived DNA with Droplet Digital PCR

Bio-Rad
How technology makes PCR instruments easier to use.

Making Real-Time PCR More Straightforward

Thermo Fisher Logo

Products

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Biotium Launches New Phalloidin Conjugates with Extended F-actin Staining Stability for Greater Imaging Flexibility

Leica Microsystems Logo

Latest AI software simplifies image analysis and speeds up insights for scientists

BioSkryb Genomics Logo

BioSkryb Genomics and Tecan introduce a single-cell multiomics workflow for sequencing-ready libraries in under ten hours

iStock

Agilent BioTek Cytation C10 Confocal Imaging Reader

agilent technologies logo