Embryonic Stem Cell Research Expands With U.S. Funds (Update1)

The final guidelines released today by the National Institutes of Health increase the number of stem cell lines available for research from the current 20, the acting director of the agency, Raynard Kington, said today in a conference call with reporters. The rules ban U.S. funding to scientists using stem cells from embryos created solely for research purposes. Global Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Index. Most of the stocks in the index got a major boost  from the widely anticipated executive order from President Obama to eliminate the restrictions on federal funding of stem cell research enacted in 2001 under President George W. Bush.

The move allows federally funded researchers to use hundreds of new embryonic stem cell lines for what remains long-term but very promising research which has the potential to cure a wide variety of conditions, including diabetes, paralysis, Parkinson's disease, and many others.

On a year-to-date basis (YTD), the stem cell index is up 39% on an equal-weight basis, thanks to major gains in many of the smallest companies in the index with the companies listed in the table in descending order by their YTD stock price changes. The stem cell index performance compares favorably to losses of 17.6% for the Healthcare Sector SPDR (XLV), 16.9% for iShares Nasdaq Biotech (IBB),Funding for new stem cell lines require documents showing the cells were donated, and stem cells already involved in research and those from other countries can be approved by a working group at the NIH, a U.S. research agency. An earlier draft of the guidelines released for public The new guidelines are “a big step forward,” said Susan Solomon, chief executive officer of the New York Stem Cell Foundation, in a telephone interview today. The absence of a working group option “may well have been an oversight in the draft version.”

Approved stem cell lines will be listed on a registry that research institutions can use for grant proposals, according to the agency’s Web site. The rules take effect tomorrow.