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I agree, short but sweet.
Thanks for the info Louisa, listening to him right now !
Hopefully something like this will help this company because I'm about ready to give up on it!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/automakers-support-calif-regs-to-cut-auto-pollution-and-increase-zero-emission-vehicles/2012/01/27/gIQACk0iUQ_story.html
Let's hope that Congress finally gets behind this promising field of Biotechnology.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120125006631/en/Biotechnology-Provide-Foundation-U.S.-Economy-%E2%80%9CBuilt-Last%E2%80%9D
Lanza is confident that stem cells can be a long term solution for a number of diseases.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/01/25/blindness-study-opens-the-door-for-further-stem-cell-trials
I just knew this stem cell stuff would come in handy some day!! :)
Very good read. Glad to see that someone with his background believes in the company. Thanks for sharing louisa. Hope today is a good day for us.
Great article as well, we have to remind ourselves that we are only in the preliminary stages and things can go either way still. I'm a positive and optimistic person and believe in Robert Lanza and the people he surrounds himself with. The potential for success is certainly there.
Thanks for clarifying louisa, I jumped the gun a little.
This is a great article. As I was reading it something blew me away a little bit. The woman stated that she had not realized that there was a possibility that she might develope a tumor from the stem cell treatment and that if she had know she might have reconsidered going through with it.
I find it inconceivable that she wouldn't have been given full disclosure about the possible dangers she might encounter with this treatment. Any thoughts?
So You have a Crystal Ball and can predict what the price will or won't be?
Good luck to us all the rest of the way!
Thanks, patience, due diligence, and sometimes going with your gut feelings pays off. Sometimes you have to look at the moves the company is making and try to read between the lines,if you do that, you can make a well educated guess as to what direction they are moving in.
And I'll add...a little bit of luck helps! :)
I think that a lot of the newbies that come on the board get frustrated because they're timing is off and then they let their emotions show.
You Too Louisa!!! Couldn't forget mentioning your name. :)
elysse,Kapla,Rocky, and all those of you who i forgot to mention here. Thanks for all your sharing, knowledge and expertise. It is very much appreciated.
Awesome! That's exactly what I'm talking about Kapla. Couldn't have stated this any better myself!
Agree with you 100%. Bottom line is everyone has to do their DD. I come on this board and appreciate the fact that I can learn a great deal from the more experienced investors but have done my homework on this company and that's why I loaded up when the price dropped to under 0.08
Congrats elysse, You did exactly the same thing I would have done if I was in you position.
You're welcome gas! :)
Couldn't agree with you more canada! :)
Maybe a little of both Sherlock! ;)
Sometimes it's a matter of who you know and what you know. Maybe old ties and connections can help us down the road?
http://www.actcblog.com/2011/10/scientific-luminary-dr-robert-langer-joins-act%E2%80%99s-board-of-directors.html
Dr. Langer served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Science Board, the FDA’s highest advisory board, from 1995 to 2002 and as its chairman from 1999 to 2002.
Stem cell market for 2012....Looks like we're heading in the right direction.
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/stem-cell-technologies-market-hit-700m-2012
Still climbing, hope we continue in this direction.
thanks for the info bill, gives us time to buy more shares! :)
I haven't been able to locate any update regarding the catholic church. The last thing I remember is this post from November.
Adult Stem Cells And The Catholic Church
Nov 23 2011
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — At a recent conference on stem cells endorsed by and held at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI announced the Catholic Church’s support for adult stem cell research.
“It opens up possibilities for healing chronic degenerative illnesses,” the Pontiff said.
There is however one very important qualification to the Church’s endorsement: research with or on embryonic stem cells is still strictly forbidden.
Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council on Culture, explained to CBS 2's Dr. Max Gomez that because the use of embryonic cells destroys an embryo and, in the Church’s view, a human life, that research is still against Church doctrine.
Adult stem cells, gleaned from most tissues in the body, are very different. They do not destroy embryos and so the Catholic Church endorses this type of medical and scientific research.
At the three-day international conference Gomez moderated, scientists, bio-ethicists and Catholic theologians presented the latest research using adult stem cells and discussed their moral and ethical implications.
“Just to get a better understanding of different perspectives on this issue of how to move the field of stem cell research forward,” said Dr. Wayne Marasco of Harvard Medical School.
Gomez also heard how stem cells are being used in clinical trials to make replacement tissues and organs, generate long term remissions in lupus, leukemia, arthritis and even multiple sclerosis. Failing hearts have been helped with stem cells too.
There are currently more than 3,500 ongoing clinical trials to test the use of various types of these adult stem cells in everything from cancer to heart disease to diabetes. So while embryonic stem cell research will continue, this Church action clearly gives a boost to work that many people are ethically more comfortable with.
Valid points, I have increased my shares because I believe in this company!
It's nice to finally see good news like this. Hope we're on the rebound!
I'm in it for the long haul and will be happy to see another dollar increase or more as well. We will see tomorrow.
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? I guess this board went the same way as the stock....TIMBERRRRRRRRRRR!
Thanks for the Link MagShoe! I believe in the Smart Grid but for a few weeks there I was wondering if I had invested in the wrong company.
Sorry wrong numbers....High as 6.49 today.
Thanks, I agree about the mind boggling part. Iv'e been searching the internet as well as the company's website for any news for weeks and haven't been able to find any update information other than something minor that was posted on scottrade about 4 days ago. It was up to 0.1649 at one point today. Any other thoughts?
Sorry...I'm new at this! :)
Anybody have any Idea why we had this spike this morning?
Thanks classic...Great info!
Thanks Guys, I'm fairly new to the board but have a positive outlook and want to contribute as much as I can!
New post from Gary...Gary Rabin | Advanced Cell Technology | Chairmans Blog
Greetings,
For many of us, the New Year is a time not just for looking forward but for reflecting on events, achievements and lessons learned over the past year. I anticipate an amazing year ahead for ACT, and at the same time I also cannot help but reflect with pride on how far the company has come with its clinical programs over the past year.
IND Filing and Clinical Trials
I will never forget the moment I learned that the company’s Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for its human clinical trial for Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy (SMD) had been approved by the FDA. It was clear then that ACT truly was on the road to potentially making medical history. So much has happened in the interim that it is hard to believe that happened only a bit over one year ago, in late November, 2010!
Shortly after that, our IND for Dry Age Related Macular Degeneration (Dry AMD) was also approved. The brief time since then has been a whirlwind of activity in preparation for the clinical trials, and we were enormously pleased and proud to start them in July, at the first site, UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute (JSEI).
As you are no doubt aware, the trials at UCLA are being conducted by Dr. Steven Schwartz of JSEI and overseen by our chief scientific officer, Dr. Robert Lanza. Each patient has received an injection of 50,000 hESC-derived RPE cells in one eye. Both trials will involve twelve patients, and are designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the injected RPE cells. Based on the results of the first patient in each study, we are authorized by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) to move forward with the next two patients in the studies, each of whom will also be treated with 50,000 RPE cells.
Part of what makes research and development in the regenerative medicine sector so exciting is that it involves sailing into largely uncharted waters. ACT’s two trials are the only ongoing human embryonic stem cell-based trials, period. We are quite literally creating a new area of medicine. This means there is tremendous pressure on us to “get it right.” The responsibility to provide the first-ever validation for this enormously promising new sector rests entirely on our shoulders.
I hope, then, that our many fans and followers can understand why this process takes some time. All eyes are on us, both from the standpoint of support and scrutiny. Should our trials succeed, it could provide the validation that the regenerative medicine sector has been in need of for some time. This is why, in every stage, we are bending over backwards to make sure we cross all our t’s and dot all our i’s. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. If we can successfully complete these trials and bring these therapies to market, though, the potential benefits would be manifold:
* The potential to at least partially restore site to millions of people suffering from Dry AMD, the most common cause of blindness for people over age 55.
* Provide a much-needed validation to the entire regenerative medicine sector.
* Provide an enormously useful base of scientific knowledge on which we and others can develop other treatments and cures.
* Last but not least, reward our investors for their patience and support with a return on their investment as befits a company with the only approved treatment for Dry AMD, which has a potential market size of $25-30 Billion in the US and Europe alone, as well as for SMD.
For many years, I was an equity market investment manager. That is an industry where you can evaluate results on a daily basis. Just because you can do that, though, does not mean that you should. The best investors, by far, look at long-term investment opportunities. Running a biotech company is not the same. I am well aware that we have many shareholders who want to know why we don’t just treat patients and release results as fast we can, and as fast as available. To do so would be beyond foolhardy for a company like ACT. If there is anything this industry has had some issues with, it is credibility in the mainstream healthcare world. We plan to change that. But to do that, it can’t happen overnight. Patient selection, clinical site selection, the timing of patient treatment, and unexpected non-ocular conditions of patients found in health screenings are among the major factors that impact patient treatment. Another factor in the timing of treating these new patients is that we will have at our disposal a new kind of three-dimensional retinal imaging technique, called optical coherence tomography (OCT), which has not previously been available. Believe me, the timing of patient surgeries has nothing to do with safety, efficacy or availability of suitable patients.
I know that many investors want us to go as fast as possible in treating patients. But there is a tortoise/hare effect here that I simply won’t discuss now. I know that it is hard to be patient, but we are making every decision for the best interest of the company in the long run. We don’t get bonus points for finishing the trial a few months earlier as compared to making it a truly game-changing medical opportunity. I know that many of you don’t know me from Adam, but I’m a very methodical person. Look who we recently added to the Board – one of the leading translational scientists in the world; one of the best entrepreneurs in the world (founder of Life Alert and eFax), and the CFO of a highly-regarded biotech company considered to have made excellent, value-preserving large bio/pharma partnering deals. We have this under control.
One ill-conceived decision could set the company on an downward path (ACT has been there). Highly prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals do substantial review and due diligence. Top-rated eye hospitals and surgeons are very process-oriented and sometimes bureaucratic. Pushing them harder to move faster doesn’t earn you any credibility or success.
Nevertheless, I am delighted to inform you that we are currently scheduled to treat our first patient in the UK at the end of next week or early the following week, and that we will be treating four additional US patients beginning that same following week.
Publishing Data
The question that inevitably comes up asks when we are going to publish the initial data from the trials. We are eagerly anticipating doing so but we are not going to just post it in raw form. This trial has the potential to make medical history and we want to share the initial results with the world in a strategic way.
The only appropriate approach with data this significant is publishing it in the form of a paper in a prestigious, peer-reviewed medical journal. However, the peer-review process takes time. The process typically takes several months, so I am actually quite thrilled that we are now moving toward the final stages of completing it, less than six months after the first patients were treated. We are far enough along that at this point the additional waiting time will be measured only in weeks, not months. We are coordinating the scientific publication with a general mainstream media release strategy (see below). When the paper is published, rest assured that we plan to leverage it to make sure it is very broadly known, not only in medicine, but in the broader medical and scientific community, as well as the investment community.
We sincerely appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue this process. We are keenly aware that our investors, fans and other followers are anxious to see the data.
Thank you for your patience and thank you, as always, for your interest and support.
Gary Rabin
Chairman and CEO
Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.
P.S. If you are on-site at EBD Group’s Biotech Showcase, I hope you can make it by my two presentations today (Tuesday, January 10), both as part of panels in the Regenerative Medicine Insight Track. More info is here.