Only a few months after the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation signed a licensing agreement enabling the worldwide distribution of human embryonic stem cells, new opportunities have already arisen for researchers at the University of Wisconsin and around the globe.
The deal was signed in April of 2002 with ES Cell International, a commercial medical provider, in an attempt to allow any willing non-profit research facility the opportunity to use stem cells discovered at UW and patented by WARF.
Andrew Cohn, a spokesman for WARF, said the reason this agreement took place was to ensure that the study of stem cells progressed quickly enough to make a difference in the medical world.
“We want as many people looking at this as possible,” Cohn said. “That’s the only way this research will reach its full potential.”
Cohn said while no major breakthrough has yet taken place that would allow for commercial application of stem cell research, 115 facilities have begun to use the university’s stem cells and the impact of this licensing agreement has already been unmistakable.
“We’re making tremendous progress,” Cohn said. “We’ve taken the first necessary steps to making a difference.”
As for the immediate impact this license has had at the university, Cohn said it has been very important in furthering research here.
Not everyone at the university agrees with the ethics of stem cell research, however. Anthony Carver, a university junior and spokesperson for the UW Pro-life Action League, said stem cell research raises important questions about the responsibility of science to protect the rights of all human beings.
“It’s important that science respects the intrinsic value of human life,” Carver said. “If it fails to do so, we should not engage in it.”
Carver said he and many others feel life begins with fertilization; thus, stem cells represent human beings whose lives should not be cut short in the name of science.
Currently at the UW, the distribution of stem cells remains nonprofit, but a number of private monetary gifts have been given to UW in the last few years exclusively to support the ongoing study of stem cells.
These gifts helped to provide for the establishment of the WiCell Research Institute. WiCell’s main goal encompasses distribution and research of human embryonic stem cells.
Carver expressed his dismay that the university profits from research that is not “morally justifiable.”
“I think it’s a huge problem that they’re benefiting from people’s misery,” Carver said. “These are human beings with no political voice and no way to defend themselves.”
Since the licensing agreement was signed last April, Cohn said, the WiCell Research Institute has enlarged their facilities sevenfold.
This licensing agreement, however, has not had an impact on UW.
The University of California-San Francisco is also part of the stem cell distribution agreement signed by WARF. Jennifer O’Brien, a spokesperson for UCSF, said the university is planning much of its future around stem cell research.
“We’re in the process of developing a whole new program around stem cells,” O’Brien said. “At this point nothing has been built, but we’re planning to expand our campus with a lot of space allocated for stem cell research.”
Despite all the emphasis UCSF is putting on stem cell research, O’Brien acknowledged that she has no idea where it will lead. She said at some point in the future she thinks there will be ramifications in the medical world, but she said it is hard to say exactly what those ramifications might be.
Cohn agreed that it is difficult to tell where stem cell research will eventually lead, but he is optimistic about the future. He expressed hope that viable treatments for fatal diseases will be found.
Cohn also said the future of stem cell research at UW will continue to provide opportunities to more than just the university.
“That is one goal of this research,” Cohn said. “We certainly hope to bring something to this university. But, really, we hope this research will in the end benefit mankind.”
