Wednesday, November 28, 2001
THE BATTALION
Page 5
)/
Human cloning company faces
stiff competition, legal battles
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I SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —A testament to the
aggressiveness of chief executive Michael West,
Advanced Cell Technology garnered a whirlwind
of publicity with its claim to be the first to clone a
human embryo.
I The accomplishment is preliminary, though,
history major.'. 31111 by no means guarantees success in a tough
with their par business climate. Competitors claim patents and
heniehtbdor W-Lisive commercial rights to cloning and the
■oduction of human embryonic stem cells — the
ultimate goal of Advanced Cell.
I Political opposition is formidable as well. A
House bill criminalizing human cloning awaits
debate in the Senate and President George W.
Bush on Monday called Advanced Cell’s work
td public policy and morally wrong.”
In an interview Monday, West defended his
:ision to announce the tentative breakthrough.
“We didn’t have any ulterior motives. We sim-
I) wanted to advance science and medicine,”
Best said. “I have a sense of urgency, because
ople are dying.”
Scientists hope they can coax human embryon-
] _stem cells to grow into replacement cells to heal
Ithe sick and ailing.
1 But some supporters of stem cell research said
jest’s announcement Sunday in the relatively
Biknown online journal, e-biomed: The Journal of
Regenerative Medicine, may set back progress
pice it lacked sufficient scientific data.
It was not clear whether the embryos Advanced
|ell cloned would be capable of growing into a
man being. The embryos died even before any
Rem cells were produced.
Ini Glenn McGee, a University of Pennsylvania
•n. In this situaiio r* oet b lcls L resigned from Advanced Cell
cnt places andth;:i’ ec * ln °logy’s ethics advisory board last year
views. Kiou". » cause he said West wasn't being public enough
friends at first J with his research.
same mutual fricw Now, McGee says West made the opposite mis-
rv realized that eJ 6 — to ° much publicity without any substance,
riences were the* He suggested West made the announcement
.■ patient whenlisi{ilf t:i1ia turely in part to stake a claim to human
aat may seemirrelflcloning as its exclusive intellectual property — a
ity. these stork' cljiarge West denied.
rstandingofeadij The U.S. Patent Office has rejected previous
iendships to nattSquests for patents on human cloning. Nonetheless,
aology has also Advanced Cell did receive a patent for technology
ivolving non-human mammals in May.
West claims that patent also gives the company
elusive rights to profit from cloning human
embryos to obtain “inner cell mass cells,” precur-
parents know \mi
e going and arounii
lome," Park said U
are responsible aili
: your own decisi®'
they become ctae
•ge. Jen Vickery,asa
lajor, said her rels
nas changed siiw
s ith my parent)
no longer dictai;
■e now have a r
ings also underg
one another often
rh other’s comps
■ed as a waste oi
aer y ounger broil
he house,
le to spend a lo:
■nger competed ft
conversions
sors to embryonic stem cells that are formed in the
earliest days of pregnancy.
If the tiny company survives the political and sci
entific challenges ahead, it hopes to invoke this
patent as it battles other intellectual property claims.
The University of Wisconsin now holds the
patent for isolating human embryonic stem cells,
and any U.S. company wanting to profit from the
science must first get the school’s permission.
Geron Corp. funded most of Wisconsin’s stem
cell research and owns significant and exclusive
commercial rights to the work. The exact scope of
those rights, however, are the subject of a pending
federal lawsuit the university filed against Geron
in August.
| THIS FRIDAY, SATURDAY, & SUNDAY ONIYI
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A recipe for controversy
Recent efforts to clone a human embryo were meant to develop
genetically compatible replacement cells for patients, not human
clones, says the company that conducted the experiments.
Cell swap
One method used by the researchers — nuclear transfer - has
been successful in cloning sheep and other animals.
A needle is
used to
puncture the
wall of a mature
egg and remove
its genetic
material.
A cumulus cell, a remnant
from the ovary, is inserted
into the emptied egg. This
cell is meant to provide
genetic material for the
developing egg - and the
resulting stem cells.
Added chemicals
and other growth
factors fool the
egg into dividing,
as if it had been
fertilized by a
sperm.
Cell division should have resulted in a blastocyst, a hollow ball of
about 100 cells containing stem cells. But the few experimental
eggs that began dividing stopped at four or six cells.
Egg reprogramming
The other method - parthenogenesis — differs from classic cloning.
Normally, a mature Using eggs donated
egg and sperm during this early stage,
each supply half of researchers activate them
an embryo’s 46 with chemicals that
chromosomes. But change their concentration
before maturity, the of charged ions,
egg possesses a C' -.
full set of genes. /
After five days of
cell division, some
of the eggs had
developed into
blastocysts. But
inside, none of
them held the
cells that yield
stem cells.
SOURCE: Scientific American
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