The San Francisco Chronicle AUGUST 24, 2001, FRIDAY, FINAL EDITION SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. B1 HEADLINE: Agency to speed research; Stem cell grants on fast track SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer BYLINE: Tom Abate : In a bid to accelerate research on human stem cells, the National Institutes of Health reportedly will allow federally funded scientists to amend their current grant applications so they can quickly begin experiments on the cells covered in the Bush compromise plan. Allan Robins, chief scientist at BresaGen Inc., a Georgia biotech firm that has created four human stem cell lines, said yesterday that company officials learned of the speed-up plan during a meeting with NIH officials in Bethesda, Md. In the same meeting, NIH officials, led by science policy director Lana Skirboll, said they might publish at least a partial list of approved stem cell sources as early as next week, Robins said. Publication of the list has been eagerly awaited by scientists. Robins said that before this week's meeting, it had been assumed academic scientists would not be able to get federal support for human stem cell experiments until NIH issued new grants next year. "This is very encouraging news," Robins said. "They weren't very specific in terms of what they meant. But one interpretation was that if (federally funded scientists) were working on dog stem cells and they wanted to work on human stem cell areas, they would be able to modify the existing grant." Robins said such modifications would allow scientists to spend federal money they already have to experiment on the 60 human stem cell lines President Bush referred to in his recent nationally televised speech. That compromise was meant to partially lift a ban, enacted by anti-abortion lawmakers, that has prevented NIH from supporting experiments on human stem cells. Many scientists believe stem cells derived from early embryos could be used to treat Alzheimer's, stroke or other diseases. Opponents argue that these PAGE 2 The San Francisco Chronicle AUGUST 24, 2001, FRIDAY, possible uses don't justify the destruction of a potential human being. BresaGen chief executive John Smeaton said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, whose Cabinet department oversees NIH, spent about 30 minutes at the meeting. "I was impressed with the degree of enthusiasm he expressed for us to do this (stem cell research) expeditiously," Smeaton said. As governor of Wisconsin before joining Bush's Cabinet, Thompson backed the University of Wisconsin scientist who first isolated the stem cells from a human embryo. Asked whether NIH had a plan to speed research by amending grants, HHS spokesman Bill Hall said: "There are ways to get funding without having to file entirely new grants but NIH and us are not going to talk about specifics." A NIH spokesperson would not comment on the BresaGen report, other than to say that the meeting was only one in a series of get-togethers between NIH officials and the owners of the 60 stem cell lines identified in Bush's speech. Leading scientists have questioned whether there really are 60 stem cell lines, and NIH is under pressure to make the list public. The meetings this week are intended to make sure the cell line owners meet the conditions laid out in the compromise, and iron out questions about the contracts researchers must sign to get access to stem cells covered by patents. BresaGen clinical trials director Chris Juttner said NIH officials indicated they will probably post a partial list of approved sites as early as next week, because not all of the stem cell owners have been able to prove they met Bush's guidelines. "They expected that not all the lines would be on the registry immediately," Juttner said, adding that "It could take months" for the full list to be known.E-mail Tom Abate at [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn