IT HAS taken more than five years of slog, but at long last approval has been given for the first clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). These cells can develop into all tissues of the body.
Geron Corporation of Menlo Park, California, received the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration this week to use cells derived from hESCs to treat people with acute spinal cord injuries. Ten people will receive injections into the injury site of hESC-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, which stimulate the growth of new and severed nerves and recoat damaged nerves with…
