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Stem-cell charity in campaign to drum up business support for research

Financial Times, 4 December, 2006

A concerted drive is under way to persuade business to support stem-cell research, in which the UK is a world leader.

The UK Stem Cell Foundation, a charity working to move ground-breaking stem cell research into medical practice, is holding a series of fundraising dinners around Britain, attended by scientists, the investment community and business people drawn from non- medical sectors as well as areas such as biotechnology.

The foundation was set up a year ago to champion the case for stem-cell research, which has aroused fierce controversy because it sometimes involves the destruction of human embryos. Advocates of the research say stem cells, the building blocks for every type of cell in the body, could in principle regenerate or repair almost any damaged or diseased tissue.

Jon Moulton, private equity entrepreneur and founder of Alchemy Partners, and Sir Richard Sykes, rector of Imperial College London, hosted dinners last week. Next month, Lord Winston, the fertility expert, will hold a dinner for the foundation at the House of Lords.

"Business sees this as complex and controversial," says David Macauley, chief executive of the foundation. "We are asking them to get involved, to understand the sector. At the moment there's not enough business involvement in the sector."

The UK has world-leading stem-cell scientists, with Newcastle, Edinburgh, Cambridge and London probably the leading research centres. But "translational" development - bridging the gap between research laboratory and the hospital bedside - is a big problem.

For its early translational projects, the foundation is focusing on "adult stem cells", often taken and cultured from the patient's own body, which are closer to clinical testing - and much less controversial - than embryonic cells. But in the long term it wants to support embryonic stem-cell work too.

With Pounds 5m pledged by London Development Agency and Pounds 5m from Scottish Enterprise, the foundation is taking a regional approach to fundraising. It is negotiating with the north- east regional development agency One NorthEast and the North West Development Agency.

One confirmed it was "in active discussions", but said it had allocated Pounds 16m for stem-cell research in the north-east in the last two years. This includes Pounds 9.8m for the Stem Cell Institute at the International Centre for Life in Newcastle, where a Pounds 14.5m GMP (good manufacturing practice) lab is to open in February.

Clive Cookson & Chris Tighe