News in a nutshell
| 9 August, 2010 | Adie Chan |
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Reactome paper retracted
The journal Science has ceded to doubts about the validity of a “reactome” tool that would allow scientists to assess the functionality of hundreds of active proteins simultaneously. The original description of the device — an array of nearly 2,500 metabolites and other substrate compounds tethered to a glass slide — was heralded as a “breakthrough” when it was published in Science in October 2009, but the journal has now asked the authors to withdraw the paper. Not every expert agrees with this decision — see today’s Q&A with Richard Roberts for his reaction.
Brassica napus, Copyright Tilo Hauke, Wikimedia commons
U.S. seeks to stop cell-based treatment
The Food and Drug Administration has been battling a Colorado company for two years, arguing its treatment, which involves implanting autologous bone marrow cells into patients, needs formal approval before it can be administered. The company, which cultures cells from bone marrow or fluid around joints and mixes the cells with drug products then injects them back into patients, says the technique is “medicine,” not a “drug,” and therefore does not require approval. According to Pharmalot, the company — Regenerative Sciences — sued the FDA two months ago, saying it has no regulatory authority over their business. The FDA, in turn, has now filed an injunction to stop production at the company.
GM product spreads to wild
For the first time in the U.S., a genetically modified crop has taken root in the wild — in this case, a transgenic canola (rapeseed) plant, growing in North Dakota, Nature reports. The team, led by University of Arkansas researcher Cynthia Sagers, presented their findings at the Ecological Society of America conference last week. They discovered 2 GM varieties (resistant to herbicides from Monsanto and Bayer CropScience), as well as plants resistant to both herbicides, suggesting the GM plants had bred with each other.
Pharma dinged for Facebook
Pharmaceutical companies are interested in harnessing the power of social media, but no one is quite sure which apps will run afoul of industry regulations. Novartis has just discovered one — the FDA has sent the company a letter saying the “Facebook Share” widget on the website for its leukemia drug Tasigna breaks the rules. When users click on the widget, Novartis sends them information about the drug to users’ Facebook page, information which heralds the benefits of Tasigna without proper risk warnings. An FDA spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal Health Blog that this was the first time the agency had reprimanded a company for a Facebook widget.
More science blogs?
You can check out new networks here and here.
(Thanks to DrugMonkey for pointing these out.)
Poop power
A new VW Beetle (or “Bio-Bug”) is powered by methane gas that’s produced from human excrement. One estimate says 70 households produce enough waste in one year to power a car for 10,000 miles (16,100km). Apparently, it doesn’t smell. See a video of the BBC’s John Maguire as he checks out the car himself.
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Regenerative Science welcomes this lawsuit as do millions of patients who don’t believe that their own stem cells are drugs. I am co-founder of the Stem Cell Pioneers. We give our full support and thanks to Drs. Centeno and Schultz and Ms. Cheever for taking on the FDA and having them explain in court why they are trying to regulate the practice of medicine and call our own stem cells drugs. The FDA is not applying the same rules to fertility clinics who also manipulate cells. This issue is a complex one and the FDA has a lot of explaining to do. Patients are tired of having to seek treatments offshore, but the FDA gives those of us that are ill very little choice. I have had successful stem cell treatment outside the U.S. Many countries are giving safe treatments and conducting clinical trials under their own government’s regulatory agencies. There is nothing available for most of us with chronic and terminal diseases here. Funding favors embryonic stem cell research when adult stem cells are being used all over the world to treat a variety of diseases without problem. There is a whole lot wrong with this picture. Kudos to Regenerative Science for standing up to this preposterous game that is going on in the U.S.
Dr. Centeno is treating ortho patients with their own adult stem cells in order to avoid replacement of joints, rehab, etc. This has nothing whatsoever to do with embryonic stem cells. This is the practice of medicine. Physicians have a choice, or rather used to have a choice in treatment. The FDA does not own a person’s stem cells. It is the same principle as a heart surgeon using a vein to replace an artery. They have overstepped their authority.
It is about time someone stood up to the FDA. They have abused their power for much to long. I should not have to leave my country to have a medical procedure performed using my very own stem cells. I tip my hat to Regenerative Science for standing their ground and fighting for our rights.