Stem cell blood set for UK human trials …

Stem cell blood set for UK human trials within three years

Blood made from stem cells will be tested in patients within three years as the UK aims to be the first to succeed in a long worldwide quest to provide an alternative to natural blood. The Wellcome Trust says that, after four years of research, its 5m Blood Pharma programme has made enough progress turning stem cells into red blood cells to start the first in-man trial by late 2016. That would be followed the following year by more extensive clinical testing, in which researchers would compare patients response to donated and man-made blood transfusions. Marc Turner, medical director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service who is leading the programme, said: Producing a cellular therapy which is of the scale, quality and safety required for human clinical trials is a very significant challenge, but if we can achieve success with this first in-man clinical study it will be an important step forward to enable populations all over the world to benefit from blood transfusions. The researchers have been working with both human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) adult cells genetically reprogrammed to return them to an embryonic state. These have the capacity to turn into any type of specialised cell. CONTINUE HERE

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Stem cell blood set for UK human trials ...