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Journal of Translational Medicine
BioMed Central
The King is Dead, Long Live the King: Entering A New Era of Stem Cell Research and Clinical Development
Thomas Ichim, Neil H Riordan, and David F Stroncek

Additional article information

Abstract
In mid November the biopharma industry was shocked by the announcement from Geron that they were ending work on embryonic stem cell research and therapy. For more than 10 years the public image of all stem cell research has been equated with embryonic stem cells. Unfortunately, a fundamentally important medical and financial fact was being ignored: embryonic stem cell therapy is extremely immature. In parallel to efforts in embryonic stem cell research and development, scientists and physicians in the field of adult stem cells realized that the natural role of adult stem cells in the body is to promote healing and to act like endogenous "repair cells" and, as a result, numerous companies have entered the field of adult stem cell therapy with the goal of expanding numbers of adult stem cells for administration to patients with various conditions. In contrast to embryonic stem cells, which are extremely expensive and potentially dangerous, adult cell cells are inexpensive and have an excellent safety record when used in humans. Many studies are now showing that adult stem cells are practical, patient-applicable, therapeutics that are very close to being available for incorporation into the practice of medicine. These events signal the entrance of the field of stem cells into a new era: an era where hype and misinformation no longer triumph over economic and medical realities.



...From a financial perspective, major pharmaceutical companies have already placed their bets on adult stem cells, including the $1.7 Billion Mesoblast-Cephalon deal last year, the 1.3 billion dollar Osiris-Genzyme deal, and Celgene-Anthrogenesis deal several years ago.

Thus, the field of stem cells is entering a new era: an era in which companies will be judged on clinical and financial practicality, not hype and manipulation of public emotion.

Article information
J Transl Med. 2011; 9: 218.
Published online Dec 20, 2011. doi: 10.1186/1479-5876-9-218
PMCID: PMC3275507
Thomas Ichim,1 Neil H Riordan,2 and David F Stroncek3
1MediStem Inc., San Diego, CA, USA
2Aidan Foundation, Chandler, AZ, USA
3Department of Transfusion Medicine, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Corresponding author.
Thomas Ichim: thomas.ichim/at/gmail.com; Neil H Riordan: nhriordan/at/gmail.com; David F Stroncek: dstroncek/at/cc.nih.gov
Received December 13, 2011; Accepted December 20, 2011.
Copyright ©2011 Ichim et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.
Articles from Journal of Translational Medicine are provided here courtesy of BioMed Central