Singapore Firm Abandons Plans for Stem Cell Therapies

In a sign that hopes for quick medical benefits from stem cells are fading, ES Cell International (ESI)--a company established with fanfare in Singapore 7 years ago--is halting work on human embryonic stem (hES) cell therapies. Investors lost interest because "the likelihood of having products in the clinic in the short term was vanishingly small," says Alan Colman, a stem cell pioneer who until last month was ESI's chief executive.

ESI's setback may dampen investors' enthusiasm for stem cell therapies, says Robert Lanza, vice president for R&D at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts: "What the field badly needs is one or two success stories."

Colman, a member of the team that cloned the sheep Dolly, will become head of the Singapore Stem Cell Consortium, which funds research at institutes affiliated with Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and also offers grants. He will also set up a lab at A*STAR's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. Most of the 24 scientists working on hES cell therapies at ESI will continue their research with "more secure government funding"...