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Today's Chicago Tribune had a small article (datelined New York) which read as follows: NEW PARKINSON'S IMPLANT THERAPY BUOYS RESEARCHERS A new brain implant therapy for Parkinson's disease that doesn't rely on human or animal fetal tissue has shown such promising results in monkeys that researchers plan to try it soon in humans. In seven monkeys with a drug-induced form of Parkinson's, the cell implants resulted in an improvement in each animal that varied from 44 percent to 90 percent within 3 months. Richard C. Allen of Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which developed the therapy said he believes it can bring about "long term, significant restoration of function" using implants of "readily available human cells" that could be stored frozen and used as an off-the-shelf product. The cells are dopamine-producing cells that form a pigmented layer in the retina of the human eye. Why retina cells produce dopamine, is not known. The cells can be obtained from donor eyes at organ banks and then grown and multiplied in the lab. The cell product is caled Spheramine. One donor eye could provide enough cells to perform thousands of implants, Allen said. Have any of you heard anything about this? Nancy Shlaes deGrazia (62/5)