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news.On March 9, 2009, the Barack Obama administration in the US rolled back an August 9, 2001 Bush Government policy that blocked the federal funding on human embryonic stem cell research restricted to 11 cell cultures developed prior to August 2001, that included stem cells at two labs in India. The Obama policy on stem cells releases hundreds of stem cell lines around the world for US funding and is expected to expand collaborations with Indian researchers.
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Indian scientists from the past decade, under fewer restrictions, pushed ahead with their own research.
“The future impact that I see of the reversal of the Bush administration policy on embryonic stem cell research is active collaborations since federal funding will be available in abundance,” says Satish Totey, chief scientific officer of India’s first full fledged stem cell products company, the Bangalore-headquartered Stempeutics.
Ads By GoogleUnlike the Bush policy that allowed funding only to cell lines derived prior to August 2001, such as the Reliance Life Sciences and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the new policy will find new collaborators, he said. “There will be a huge impact on collaborative research,” he added.
According to Totey, though Indian research has been unrestricted for the last eight years there have been few industries set up around stem cell products apart from Reliance Life Sciences and Stempeutics. The US initiative will see the realization of more embryonic stem cell products in the market, he said. Totey, however, warns that there could be a downside in India in the form of “exploitation of weak laws for fertility and in-vitro fertilization treatment.”