Innovators in hESC Research
1. ACT: Advanced Cell Technology The biotech company that specializes in cellular therapy (1). ACT is currently the only company that has FDA approved clinical trials involving hESC. ACT currently has two clinical trials available, both of which concern retinal degeneration diseases. The first clinical trial therapy is for a disease called Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Dry AMD. The the second trial therapy is for a disease called Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy or SMD (4).  Act Logo (18). |
2. GeronThe Geron Corp. is a bio-pharmaceutical company that was the first company to ever conduct a clinical trial therapy that used human embryonic stem cells. The trial use hES cells to repair nervous system cells by injecting the cells into patients with severe spinal cord injuries. Unfortunately, on November 14 of 2011, the company announced it would be cancelling it's clinical trial and leaving the stem cell research field entirely to focus their funds on cancer research. Their withdrawal left Advanced Cell Technology as the only company still conducting clinical trials using hES cells (3). |  Geron Logo (19). |
