Thx, nice quotes and very positive skew for ACTC
Lanza insisted that "it shouldn't really matter what cells" hESC lines are derived from.
"These are coming from the spirit of the law that these are leftover embryos with the proper consent forms that were discarded from IVF clinics or from leftover embryos that were not being used," he said. "So whether or not you generate your lines from this or that cell from the embryo really shouldn't matter," Lanza said.
And because the single blastomere method does not require the destruction of the embryo, "it could be strongly argued that these lines are far more ethical," he said.
Given the "many years" of data ACT has collected, including lifetime animal studies to show the cells do not form teratomas, it would have been "a real shame" if the NIH had ignored the pleas from the company and other researchers to revise the guidelines, Lanza said.
"You can imagine changing the official guidelines is not trivial," he said. "So my hat is off to them for correcting this. They are doing the right thing here. We are very pleased that they were willing to make this correction."
Lanza noted that his firm and its collaborators have applied for several NIH grants, which currently are on hold until ACT's lines are approved.
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