KOREA: Stem Cell Research To Advance To Clinical Trials

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

KOREA: Stem Cell Research To Advance To Clinical Trials
By Kim Tae-gyun (ktg1217@xxxxxxxxxxx)

2004.02.28

Only two weeks after the world's first extraction of viable stem cells from a 
cloned human embryo was announced by a
research team headed by professor Hwang Woo-suk, scientists here have unveiled 
a project to elevate the groundbreaking
research to a new level - clinical trials on human patients.

Gil Medical Center, a hospital in Incheon, said yesterday that it would build a 
research center at its campus to
experiment with the stem cell technology to treat incurable diseases such as 
Parkinson's and spiral cord injuries.
Hwang will join the research project at the center, the hospital said.

"We plan to invest 35 billion won to build a science center to study stem cell 
technology," the local daily Munhwa Il-
bo quoted Lee Cheol-ok, president of the hospital. "Construction will be 
finished by the end of this year. Then we will
seek approval from the government's bioethics committee and begin clinica       
 ltrialswiththecelltechnology,hesaid.

According to Lee, the research center will first focus on sufferers of 
Parkinson's disease and spiral cord injuries.
The center's medical team plans to transplant stem cells in the brains of these 
patients to regenerate nerve cells for
the first time in the world, he said.

The stem cells Hwang succeeded in obtaining from the cloned human embryo are 
the master cells of all organs. Scientists
believe that they can be grown into parts of the brain, heart or nerve cells 
and offer new cures to many untreatable
diseases.

But Hwang's achievement also sparked ethical debates as the research needs 
human embryos that many civic groups deem as
a human life form.

Currently, the Korean government has a ban on reproductive cloning. But it 
allows cloning for medical use such as
Hwang's recent project. Permitted cloning research is subject to regulation by 
a state-designated bioethics committee,
according to the government.

SOURCE: Korea Herald, South Korea


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