Glaxo, Astra, Roche back stem cells for drug tests
REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
By Ben Hirschler October 02, 2007
LONDON (Reuters) - Three of Europe's top drugmakers have backed a new
public-private scheme to use stem cells for safety testing of
experimental medicines, signaling "big pharma's" growing interest in
the controversial field.
Stem Cells for Safer Medicines Ltd, a non-profit British company
launched on Wednesday, will focus initially on developing better ways
of testing for liver toxicity -- the biggest single cause of drug
failures and withdrawals.
GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Roche have each paid 100,000 pounds
($200,000) to help fund the first year's work, while the British
government is contributing 750,000 pounds.
Other drug firms are expected to join soon, according Philip Wright,
director of science and technology at the Association of the British
Pharmaceutical Industry, the firm's chief executive.
Stem cells are the body's master cell, acting as a source for the
body's cells and tissues. Embryonic stem cells are the most
malleable, but their use in research is opposed by some people
because it involves destruction of a human embryo.
Britain, however, has encouraged such research and science minister
Ian Pearson said the new collaboration was an example of the
government's commitment to the field.
By working across academic and industrial laboratories, the project
aims to develop effective ways of using human embryonic stem cells to
screen for potentially dangerous side effects of new drugs before
they go into clinical trials.
It will not evaluate stem cells as potential treatments.
Ian Cotgreave, head of molecular toxicology at AstraZeneca, said
there were still significant hurdles to overcome in differentiating
liver cells from existing stem cell lines but the technology could
dramatically improve R&D productivity.
"The big problem is that, not knowing any better, we are today
putting compounds into the regulatory (approval) system that then
fall down in the clinic," he told reporters.
More than 90 percent of drugs entering clinical development fail to
get to market, due to lack of effectiveness or adverse side effects
that were not picked up in animal tests.
The liver is particularly vulnerable, since it acts as the body's
garbage removal system. High-profile drug failures due to liver
problems include AstraZeneca'
diabetes drug Rezulin.
The next research area will be heart cells, where new tests could
shed light on cardiovascular side effects like those that led to the
withdrawal of Merck & Co's Vioxx in 2004.
http://www.sciam.
st&chanId=sa003&
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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