Despite excitement among some scientists - and at the White House - about an embryo-free technique for creating human stem cells, reaction from companies that might turn the research into treatments is subdued, the Associated Press reports.

In two papers published yesterday, researchers reported successfully programming ordinary human skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, which can theoretically be transformed into a variety of human tissues. But while biotech execs say the announcement is scientifically interesting, they also add that the new technique is even less likely to yield meaningful results soon than using embryonic cells - which requires destroying embryos.

One exec, whose company’s stem-cell efforts may soon enter human clinical trials, notes that the FDA is unlikely to quickly approve a regimen that requires a separate treatment be developed for each patient. At Genentech, researchers don’t seem poised to change course and leap on the new findings. “We don’t use stem cells, not because we’re for them or against them, just because the way we make therapeutics doesn’t require their use,” Robin Snyder, a Genentech spokeswoman, tells the AP.

The technique isn’t likely “to bear any fruit,” Tom Okarma, ceo and president at Geron, which has spent $100 million on human embryonic stem cell research. “Most of the people who are doing this work and make the claim that this is going to change the therapeutic field really know nothing about cell therapy.”

The scientists who pioneered the new approach have said that reprogramming an individual’s own cells to mimic stem cells provides a way to create individually tailored transplant tissue unlikely to be rejected by that person’s immune system. But the process of getting the FDA to approve personalized treatments would ultimately prove more expensive than using tissue grown from embryonic cells, Okarma says. Geron hopes to start trials next year for its stem cell treatment for spinal cord injuries, but its stock fell six percent yesterday following the research announcement.

At Advanced Cell Technology, Geron’s chief rival in the race to create medical therapies using stem cells, the head of research hailed the new technique as revolutionary, though he advised calm. Robert Lanza, the chief science officer, calls the breakthrough the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers’ first airplane. Still, he says any medical uses of stem cells developed using the new technique were many years away. “I can’t overemphasize the use of caution here,” he tells the AP. “These are not ready for prime time.”

One large drugmaker appeared far from ready to embrace the new stem cells, saying these may have “high potential” for creating more effective medicines. But Laura Woodin, an AstraZeneca spokeswoman, also advises caution. “It is too early to say how the studies announced today might affect any research we pursue in this area.”

Source: The Associated Press