Stem cell research threatened after Government 'fails to provide funds'

BYLINE: Roger Highfield Science Editor

BRITAIN'S position as the world leader in stem cell technology is in serious jeopardy because of a lack of funding, one of the country's leading scientists said yesterday.

Sir Richard Sykes, who is the chairman of the UK Stem Cell Foundation's Board of Trustees, warned that the foundation's efforts to test stem cell treatments could end within a year.

Stem cells can develop into all 200 types found in the body and could help alleviate illnesses such as Parkinson's disease and conditions for which there is currently no cure. They may one day help rebuild tissue and organs.

The creation of the UK Stem Cell Foundation to bridge the gap between the laboratory and hospital ward was endorsed by Tony Blair, who said the field could "revolutionise medical research'', and the Chancellor.

But the foundation may close "in the next year if something does not happen'', said Sir Richard, Rector of Imperial College London.

"We have not got a penny,'' he said. Even a delay in obtaining funding could be harmful, given the intense competition by researchers overseas.

Sir Richard is frustrated because last December the Government announced that pounds 100 million would be made available for UK stem cell research over two years in response to the recommendations in the UK Stem Cell Initiative by Sir John Pattison.

Sir John had chaired the initiative at the request of Gordon Brown, who said that "Britain should be the world's number one centre for genetic and stem cell research''.

"There was a lot of noise after the Pattison report,'' said Sir Richard. "We believed we would get that matching money from the Government because they were very gung ho about stem cells.''

However, "it is all bloody noise'', he said yesterday. "They don't do anything.''

The Government has yet to match the funding generated for the foundation's first project, a trial of stem cells to repair the damage caused by heart attacks, which will involve 100 patients.

The pounds 1.2 million trial of cells isolated from the patients' own bone marrow is supported by the London Development Agency and pounds 500,000 from philanthropists. It aims to see if stem cells can improve quality of life and prevent the onset of heart failure, a frequent complication of heart attacks.

The foundation has been wooing potential donors.

"If a donor has come up with money to support a clinical trial in the stem cell area then, from the Pattison report, it should be very clear that the Government offered matching funds,'' said Sir Richard. "Those matching funds have not appeared.''

Future projects that are in jeopardy include one to repair spinal injuries by regenerating nerve cells and others using stem cells for eye, bone and cartilage repair.

"There is no way we can start anything else until we get money,'' said Sir Richard.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "They do have funding from London and Scottish Development Agencies. If the Medical Research Council and the foundation agree on a joint trial they want to fund then the MRC will match the foundation funding for up to pounds 1 million a year and any extra NHS costs will be funded by the department. They have yet to agree on any joint trials.''

One problem for the foundation is that Sir Chris Evans, the biotech entrepreneur who set up the initiative, has - despite his strenuous protestations of innocence - had to step down after being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. He was also arrested in the Labour "cash for honours'' investigation.

Britain's stem cell projects include:

Blindness Transplants to restore sight could start within a decade, after a team at UCL Institutes of Ophthalmology and Child Health and Moorfields Eye Hospital successful use of stem cells to replace the nerve cells that line the back of the eye.

Deafness Treatments based on the ability to grow new cells in the inner ear are being studied at Sheffield University.

Liver failure By injecting the patient's own blood-derived stem cells, a team from Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital hopes to improve the function of a failing liver.

Spinal cord injury Trials are planned at University College London on the possibility that certain cells had a capacity to "bridge'' over the gap in nerve fibres caused by injury.

Stroke A Guildford firm is planning a trial with patients who have suffered long-term disabilities because of a stroke