Advanced Cell Technology Gets Itself into the News. Again
ACT, which claimed falsely to have created ES cell lines without actually destroying embryos, has gotten itself in the news again: This time to tout receipt of a $204,000 NIH grant to conduct embryonic stem cell research. As usual, the company's spin machine is whirling like a centrifuge. "Advanced Cell's CEO, William Caldwell, called the grant 'momentous' because of what it says about the changing political climate and the federal government's move toward greater support for research into embryonic stem cell science."
Puhleese. First, to get the grant ACT has to be using Bush-approved cell lines. Second, in 2005, the NIH put out $50 million for human ESCR. Momentous? Only in that ACT got another article to put in its scrap book of memories to show potential investors.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 6:00 PM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
Wesley, can you dig up the relationship between ACT and the University of Massahcustts? As I recall, the founders of ACT were all researchers at UMass Worcester before spinning off into a private company, and the state of Massachusetts actually owned the patent for somatic cell nuclear transfer for a little while, until it was contested by another state. Do we still own it, or not?
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Unknown.
I am not sure what "assignee-after-issue" means (Wesley, you're the lawyer), but UMass is noted as such (and ACT the "assingee-at-issue) in a patent filed in 2003 that is described as follows: "Methods and cell lines for cloning ungulate embryos and offspring, in particular bovines and porcines, are provided. The resultant fetuses, embryos or offspring are especially useful for the expression of desired heterologous DNAs, and may be used as a source of cells or tissue for transplantation therapy for the treatment of diseases such as Parkinson's disease."
Whether UMass still holds the patent, I couldn't find.
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