Regulation and Risk Governance of Stem Cell Therapies

Published: 2007
Author or Editor: Author
Publisher: Appropriate Governance of the Life Sciences - Innogen Policy Brief Series

This policy brief is one of a series describing Innogen's research on strategic innovation issues in life sciences, the governance and regulation of innovation and the resulting innovation trajectories determining which products are developed and which companies take the lead in developing them.

Stem cell science and technology promises to deliver a broad range of potential therapeutic applications, particularly for chronic and degenerative diseases. Like many new areas of biomedicine, there is pressure from patient organisations to speed up development and access to new therapies. However, fundamental issues around risk and risk-governance need to be resolved before clinical trials are initiated and therapies delivered to market.

This policy brief summarises some of the known and potential risks associated with stem cell therapy and considers the challenges these advanced technologies pose to regulation and risk governance in national and international contexts.

To read the full report, please download Regulation and Risk Governance of Stem Cell Therapies  (pdf  159 KB)

For further information regarding this paper please contact James Mittra